I would just like to say that Alzheimers is one of the worst, most despicable diseases in existance. Cancer is bad, so is MS, heart disease, Aids, they are all so, so bad...even Diabetes which is slowly robbing me of my father, eye by eye, kidney by kidney doesn't rate as high on my hate list as Alzheimers. Because it is rare that those other diseases take the best things from a person and leave an empty shell that stares at you blankly, or makes a woman who 5 years ago adored her daughter and worshiped the ground she walked upon, pick up a knife and tell her she would stab her if she came any closer.

At 64, my aunt, my lively, vivacious, ass-kicking aunt, who could speak volumes about her thoughts with just a lift of an eyebrow or a twinkle of the eye, is now reduced to a ghost of a woman who has to be locked into her bedroom at night in case she goes at the gas or leaves the house. Last week, she ran out of the house into her neighbours, demanding they called the police because there was a strange man in her room. It was my uncle. My cousin's 3 year old daughter proudly proclaims that she helps Nana get dressed. And the woman who was one of the most sought after confectioners in the city at the height of her ability, who could draw the most perfect sketch of something she'd only seen once; the woman whose reproduction of a cathederal in cake was brought around Europe in the 80's, is reduced to sitting in a corner with a colouring book, following the lines with a pen. She can't even colour in now. In a room filled with family today for my nephew's 1st birthday, she could identify one person; my dad. She looked confused and afraid at times, and at others would just stare blankly at a cup of tea as if she didn't know what to do with it.

I hate this disease.

I hate it.

I miss my auntie and god damn it I want her back

It sounds bloody aweful. I only experienced it for a very short time myself with my grandma, but she didn't live that much longer after she started getting Alzheimers - just a few months and she was 85.

The only good thing now and in the future is it will be researched more and, hopefully, cured eventually and not thought of as 'on of those things' we have to live with.

Dragon's Kingdom - Stop typing "alot" when you mean "a lot"! - Disappointed

Poor Maz Damn Alzheimer's to all hell and back. *hug*

Damn Spider pig

Thanks Mal, thanks Kat. Sorry about that - It had just been one hell of a shocking day. I hadn't seen her in a while, and I can't really talk about it to my mom because she gets too upset, and the friend I'd normally talk to about things like that lost the aunt who rasied her to it a few years back. Needed to vent a bit.

Sad news :(
*hug*

Vent away maz, in the immortal words of Homer Simpson, "venting prevents explosion".

Damn Spider pig

Maz we're always here to vent at. I know what it's like my recently departed step-grand mother had Alzheimer's / dementia. My step-mum went through hell having to look after her and watching her fade away.

So vent away...

PhD Student: Research information sheet

There once was a man named Bruce
Who liked to sit on a spruce
He ate lots of chowder
And yelled at me louder:
"I'm talking to YOU, Mrs. Hughes!"
--> The Literary Genius: Mowgli

What they said...
...dealing with a sick relative is difficult enough, but dealing with any kind of sickness that damages the brain and affects personality and character is the most difficult to deal with I think, and at the same time often the one friends and neighbours want to hear the least about.

"Hoher Sinn liegt oft im kindischen Spiel." (Friedrich Schiller)

Thanks guys - surprisingly enough, it was her immediate family that didn't want to talk about it or tell the neighbours or her friends. Or her brothers and sisters. At least, until it got so bad that they couldn't hide it anymore. Her friends disappeared pretty much immediately, but the neighbours have been brilliant and are keeping an eye out for her, which is good because aside from my aunt, her family have so much more going on including her sons baby being in a hospital 4 hours drive away (congenital defects - he'll be in hospital for over a year), and her husband having cancer. Just one of those no light at the end of the tunnel situations at the moment.

oh my, I hope they get the support they need to get through this. It sounds like an unimaginable situation to me, you have my prayers.

() ()
( ' ,') "don't eat green potatoes"
(> >) Last words of Mrs. Bertha Sperling
@( )_ )_