Any family will find it hard to deal with Alzheimer’s disease. My father-in-law was a joke telling, happy go lucky card playing person when I was married over 10 years ago. At first, we were unable to understand what started to happen to him so we just dismissed it as part of getting older. He would often forget what he was doing, or where he put the keys or some other odd thing. At that time, we didn’t realize that all of us were about to start down a long and difficult road.
A person who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease will not function in normal situations because of the effect of this disease on the brain. Dad started living more and more in the past, and less and less in the present in our situation. There was one time when his wife was sick and in the hospital, but he couldn’t remember where she was. Dad would ask, “Where is she?” and we would reply that she is at the hospital. However, we would repeat the same discussion five minutes later. We would do this over and over.
Dad would stop recognizing us as the Alzheimer’s disease progressed. At one time, Dad hollered and yelled at the strange man who had come over when my husband went to visit him. My father-in-law even threw a punch when the strange man known as his son came into the home.
In my experience, Alzheimer’s disease never seems to stop. Dad would start wandering off not knowing where he was as his condition worsened. We had to get a door alarm that would sound when the door was opened to keep him from leaving. However, even that didn’t work all the time. Dad wandered off in his pajamas one time in winter. He wandered away so far that we had to call the police to help us find him.
Dad has now moved to a secure facility that is designed to care for patients with Alzheimer’s disease. It is hard for us to see his life so drained of what it was and what it could still be if he didn’t have Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease affects the whole family. Dad doesn’t know who we are if we visit and he doesn’t even remember that we were there. He still remembers that he was married, but he cannot remember to whom he was married to. We just take comfort in knowing that Dad is happy and not in pain, even if he doesn’t recognize us anymore.
About the Author:
Morgan Hamilton offers expert advice and great tips regarding all aspects concerning Alzheimer’s. Visit our site for more helpful information about Vitamin B12 Treatment in Alzheimers and other similar topics.
