“Tears water our eyes.
"Remember," mom soothes, "like the beautiful blooms beneath the weeds, Nana is still Nana underneath.”
Source: Weeds in Nana's Garden: A heartfelt story of love that helps explain Alzheimer's Disease and other dementias.
“The literature has only these words of comfort for a patient and her family at this stage. Remember, there is still a living spirit inside this diminished person, the spirit of someone you love.”
Source: Before I Forget: Love, Hope, Help, and Acceptance in Our Fight Against Alzheimer's
“The day the roles reverse is foreign. It’s a clumsy dance of love and responsibility, not wanting to cross any lines of respect. It’s honoring this person who gave their life to you—not to mention literally gave you life—and taking their fragile body in your hands like a newborn, tending to their every need.”
“If you knew you were
going to lose your memory
but you could choose five things
you’d never forget, what would they be—
a certain face, a taste, a scent,
a touch; how deep
in this, the middle
of your life?”
“A PET scan of his brain activity showed diminished capacity on the left side of his brain, hence, planning ahead, strategic thinking is harmed. A positive is that he is less critical of things. He has lost language and gained singing... THAT makes for more fun.
What amazes me is that so many times he returns and talks and seems to think like he used to. His voice and laugh returns to normal. How can that be???”
Source: Alzheimer's Trippin' with George: Diagnosis to Discovery in 10,000 Miles
“For me as a spouse of a husband who is sexually competent, this is a big issue for me. Not because I desire sex, but because he does.
He has become like a child in many ways. Yet, even as his abilities and personality diminish, he still wants us to act like we always have as husband and wife.”
Source: Alzheimer's Trippin' with George: Diagnosis to Discovery in 10,000 Miles
“-أنظر يا أبي، هذا سور الحديقة الذي بنيته بيديك
= صحيح، سآخذه معي
-لا يمكنك أخذ السور معك!
=هذا أمر في منتهى السهولة
-هذا مستحيل يا أبي
=سترى
-أبي، أبي بالله عليك! هذا مستحيل! ربما من الأفضل أن تخبرني كيف ستذهب إلى البيت، وأنت فيه بالفعل.
=لا أفهم قصدك
-أنت في البيت وتريد الذهاب إليه، ولا يمكن أن نكون في البيت ونذهب إليه!
=هذا أمر واضح
-إذن ماذا تقصد؟
=لا يعنيني ما تقوله كثيرا بالقدر الذي يعنيك.”
Source: Der alte König in seinem Exil
“I love you but I got to love me more.”
Source: The Inspired Caregiver: Finding Joy While Caring for Those You Love
“I like it when people remember that I'm a person, not just a person with Alzheimer's.”
Source: The Things We Keep
“My short-term factual memory can be like water; events are a brief disturbance on the surface and then it closes back up again, as if nothing ever touched it. But it’s a strange fact that my long-term memory remains strong, perhaps because it recorded events when my mind was unaffected. My emotional memory is intact too, perhaps because feelings are recorded and stored in a different place than facts. The things that happened deeper in the past, and deeper in the breast, are still there for me, under the water.
I won 1,098 games, and eight national championships, and coached in four different decades. But what I see are not the numbers. I see their faces.
'Pat should get a tattoo!' The kids laughed. 'What kind should she get?'
'A heart. She should get a heart.'
Little did they know. They are the tattoos.”
Source: Sum It Up: 1,098 Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective