Subscribe to RSSPosts Tagged ‘Dementia’
Family Caregivers Walk To End Alzheimer’s Disease
Yesterday I walked in Georgia’s Alzheimer’s Association’s Walk To End Alzheimer’s. My family and the Jones family joined to form the Family Caregivers Team. Pictured here is seven of our twelve team members. Together we were able to raise $2,500 dollars for Alzheimer’s research. Both of our families have lost loved ones to Alzheimer’s disease so we know first hand how important it is to raise money for Alzheimer’s research.
In the picture above and below, you see us holding flowers we were given at sign-in. There were three categories of flowers: yellow flowers if we were walking in support of someone with Alzheimer’s, purple flowers if we were walking in memory of someone who had died from Alzheimer’s and blue flowers if we had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
During the Opening Ceremonies we were asked to raise our flowers if we had Alzheimer’s; raise our flowers if a loved one had died from Alzheimer’s; and raise our flower if we care for or had cared for someone with Alzheimer’s. Almost every flower was raised for those who had taken care of someone with Alzheimer’s disease. It was a very emotional and eye opening moment. Thousands of purple and yellow flowers raised in the air. YET, so many people in this country have no idea what it means to take care of someone with this dreadful disease.
People of all ages participated in the Walk - babies in infant carriers and strollers and young children walking beside their parents; tweens and teens, college sororities and fraternities, young adults and not so young adults. Everyone had gathered for the Walk To End Alzheimer’s. As I looked around at some of us (myself included) who were overweight, it was quite apparent to me that we did not walk regularly and would probably have to take an Epsom salt bath when we got home. But the aches and pains didn’t matter, we wanted to support this very important cause.
This gentleman was quite an inspiration for me. Can you see his walker in the picture? By the time I took this picture we had walked about three quarters of a mile and we were on an uphill slope. This man had a caregiver with him who is off to the side but close enough should he need assistance. I don’t know if he walked the mile and a half track or the three mile track. I was just impressed that he participated.
It has been almost a year since I blogged. After Gladys passed, I just couldn’t seem to find the motivation to write any articles. This Walk was just what I needed because it gave me something to want to write about. If you’d like to see all of the pictures I took, you can find them here on our Facebook page. If you would like to donate, you can do so here on our Alzheimer’s Association Walk To End Alzheimer’s page.
Next year we’re going to try to recruit a bigger team. Why don’t you form a team where you live? These walks are going on all around the country.
Elder Care: Fast Decline Can Catch You Off Guard
In April I wrote a post about Gladys’ declining mental and physical capabilities. At that time the adult day care she was attending, informed us that they wouldn’t be able to keep her as a client past the end of the month. Since then, it’s been four and a half months of constant change. We are in the season of elder care where it’s become very difficult.
Gladys’ decline has progressed so rapidly that it caught us off guard. We expected decline but not so much in such a short period of time. Initially, I hired our sitter, Tami, to come for three days a week – the two days that I work and an extra day so I could run some errands. However, because of the rapid change in Gladys’ condition, I added another day at the end of July. By October, I expect to have Tami coming five days a week.
Three weeks ago, Gladys could walk about 15 steps. Those steps were very slow and unsteady. Two weeks ago those 15 steps became about six steps. Today she can’t walk at all. There are also other areas of decline that have taken place since April:
- She can’t stand
- She cannot sit up without assistance
- She can’t roll or turn from side to side
- Her left hand is claw-like and her right hand is on it’s way
- She can only feed herself finger food
- She can’t use a fork or hold a cup
- She has difficulty swallowing her medicine
- She hallucinates
Hospice ordered a Hoya lift that we use to move Gladys from her bed to her recliner. I don’t know what we would do without the lift because trying to move her is like moving dead weight. It’s impossible to explain to Gladys that we need to roll her so we can change her diaper, bathe her or change her clothes. She just doesn’t understand instructions.
Dealing with Gladys now is very frustrating for several reasons: first because she doesn’t understand what’s going on; second because she has no cartilage so it’s very painful when we move her; third because she resists and pushes against us when we try to move her; fourth because she fusses and wants to know “why are you doing this to me;” and fifth because she has no idea that she can’t do any of the things that I mentioned above. She thinks that she if fully functional.
So far I still handle my frustrations with humor. After I walk away, about 30 minutes later I can still laugh at the absurdity of what Gladys has said or done. Just yesterday, Gladys was fussing at me and I fussed back at her. My husband asked, “Why are you trying to reason with her? You know she doesn’t understand.” I said to him “I know that but it helps me get it off my chest. Plus, I know that five minutes later, she won’t remember any of this?” We both had a good laugh, and I felt better.
Related Posts:
The Ever Changing Life of A Family Caregiver
Dementia, the Sneaky Thief
Dementia is mental disorder that causes memory loss, a decline in intellectual and language skills, difficulties with motor skills and judgement. It can be caused by a variety of diseases or conditions. In Gladys’ case, her dementia was the result of a massive stroke, heart attack and seizures that occurred in a very short time span.
Gladys has lived with us now for two years, over which my family and I have witnessed her steady decline. At first her symptoms declined gradually but in the past four months it has been difficult to keep up with her mental and physical changes.
Why I Call Dementia a Sneaky Thief
I started calling dementia a sneaky thief about six months ago when Gladys could no longer go the the bathroom without assistance. It was as though someone snuck into her room and stole a life skill that so many of us take for granted: pull down pants, sit on commode, use toilet, stand up, pull up pants. A simple life skill that disappeared like a thief in the night.
At that time, Gladys still remembered to go to the bathroom but she would sit on the commode with her pants still up. She had no idea that she had not performed the necessary task of pulling her pants down. Dementia stole her ability to reason.
Right now dementia is just waiting to snatch away a few more of Gladys’ life skills that are teetering on the cusp of disability:
- swallowing medicine
- standing and walking
- feeding herself
- use of her left arm and leg
A thief is someone who steals something from someone else with the intent of keeping it (or selling it). Over time, dementia steals so many of our life skills. Simple things that we take for granted – things we do without thinking.
These are just a few of the things that my family deals with. If you are a caregiver, what has the sneaky thief stolen from your loved one?
Note: Image of the brain from http://faculty.washington.edu
