“The dominant narrative is a horror story. People with Alzheimer's are perceived as zombies, bodies without minds, waiting for valiant researchers to find a cure. For Alice and me, the story was different. Alzheimer's was a time of healing and magic. Of course, there is loss with dementia, but what matters is how we approach our losses and our gains. Reframing dementia as a different way of being, as a window into another reality, lets people living in that state be our teachers — useful, true humans who contribute to our collective good, instead of scary zombies.”
Quote by Dana Walrath
“No matter how hopeless I feel, there's always a little more hope inside me. No matter how faithless I think I am, there is always something to believe in.”
Source: These Hollow Vows
“BIDEN: “Look, folks,” the president told the adoring crowd after his wife handed him the microphone, “you know, there, uh — I shouldn’t say this, but my brother always uses lines from movies. There was a famous movie by John Wayne, and— and he’s working for the, uh, the Northern military, trying to get the Apaches back on the reservation, and they were lying like hell to him. And they’re all sitting on a bluff, and John Wayne was sitting with two Indian — they were, they were tr — Apaches. And one of them looked at John Wayne and said, ‘These guys are nothing but lying, dog-faced pony soldiers.’ ” The crowd roared and laughed.
“Except, Trump’s just a liar,” Biden added.
No such line was ever said in any John Wayne movie.”
Source: Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again
“Then there was the Trumpiness of it all. A candidate just didn’t get a whole lot out of debating Trump. Even if you were beating his ass, you would lose part of your soul in that debate. Trump was such a pathological liar that it was hard for anyone to maintain the nature of what they imagined themselves to be. Trump always took you down with him.”
Source: Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again
“In this journey, it wasn’t her forgetting that broke me. It was the glimpses of her remembering.”
Source: I Finally Have the Smoking Hot Body I Have Always Wanted...: Having Been Cremated
“A snapshot memory, circa 1955:
I'm draped over Dad's shoulder, bouncing along in time with his stride. It's a hot day and we're strolling through a fairground. Beside us, Verna clings to Mom's hand. A cob of corn has slipped from my sweaty clutches, and I'm shrieking at full lung capacity to have it retrieved. Bobbing over Dad's shoulder, I can see that tasty morsel - sticky with grit, no doubt - receding into the distance, and I'm furious.
My parents, facing the other direction, are oblivious to my rising howls of protest. Big sister ignores me. Curious onlookers wander by, but I'm not at all self-conscious. I want that cob of corn, and I want it now! Nothing else matters...
I learned soon enough that my parents would never react to my verbal outbursts unless they were facing me. If they couldn't see my face, it didn't count. I'm not sure when that realization dawned, but I know it was early. I recall, as a small child, running into another room to tug on Mom's arm. I knew instinctively that shouting would be useless.
From my infancy, the deaf-hearing dynamic shaped every part of our mother-child communication. Specifics elude me; I only knew that I understood her, and she understood me. Most likely, we used a blend of speaking, signs, and gestures. If I had to describe it, I'd call it mother-talk, that intimate connection that happens between mothers and their offspring. You know how they just understand each other? Well, that's how it was, with us.
Excerpt from Patricia Conrad's Gentle into the Darkness, p. 68”
Source: Gentle into the Darkness: A Deaf Mother's Journey into Alzheimer's
“I Understand Mom
The fog wraps around her mind
bits and pieces of tattered thought
become blank within her eyes
minutes ago is gone, the sadness inside.
Reaching for a wonderful memory
that was just an hour ago
you fight so hard to bring it back
until you finally let it go.
I’m sorry, I don’t remember
as the tears reach her face
tears roll down a beautiful smile
while your days are being erased.
I understand Mom; I’m here for you
there’s blessings at our door
God is here, He will guide us through
with His love and so much more.”
“My life changed in a single moment and became two distinct segments, before October 2018 and after. Alzheimer’s permeates every facet of my life.”
“I'm in awe of people who deal with Alzheimer's, because they have to deal with death 10 times over, year after year.”
Source: Healing Your Grieving Heart When Someone You Care About Has Alzheimer's: 100 Practical Ideas for Families, Friends, and Caregivers (Healing Your Grieving Heart series) by Wolfelt PhD CT, Alan D., Duvall MD, Kirby J. (2011) Paperback
“When someone you love has dementia, you too experience a form of anticipatory grief, but yours may extend over a longer period of time (for some, as long as 20 years) and be socially unrecognized and surrounded by uncertainty.”
Source: Healing Your Grieving Heart When Someone You Care About Has Alzheimer's: 100 Practical Ideas for Families, Friends, and Caregivers (Healing Your Grieving Heart series) by Wolfelt PhD CT, Alan D., Duvall MD, Kirby J. (2011) Paperback
“It feels like a thief in slow motion, stealing the man I knew one memory at a time.”
Source: Purgatory