Background
Very Early Signs
About five years before mom's diagnosis there were some early warning signs that concerned me. Every time she came for dinner and I served a certain salad that she loved, she would ask me for the recipe for the dressing. It was very simple and only had three ingredients but she couldn't remember them and she didn't seem to recall that she was asking me over and over. She also was becoming paranoid about her health. Mom was always thinking that she had some new disease and constantly went to her doctor. Another thing that concerned me was that she was distrusting family members and always hiding her purse.
Just before she was diagnosed in 1993 she became very depressed and kept telling me that if she had alzheimer's she would end her life. (Her brother had just died from alzheimer's.)
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When I took her to see the Geriatric psychiatrist I warned him of her threat and he chose not to tell her that she had alzheimer's. He prescribed Prozac for her extreme depression and within two weeks there was such a change in my mother's attitude. She was very happy, did not mistrust people any more and did not stress about her health. I don't know if it was the drug she was on that caused the great change but after that she was so much easier to handle and more content. (however her memory was in no way improved.) |
THE DAY I KNEW IN MY HEART THAT MOM HAD AL's
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It was in October 1993 and we had just found a beautiful purple beaded suit for mom to wear at my son's wedding coming up in November. The next day mom phoned me to tell me about the lovely suit she had bought and I told her that I had been with her when she purchased it. I reminded her that we had had a concern over the length of the skirt and we had been in the store for at least an hour. She was horrified and I recall her saying that she had absolutely no recollection of my being there. She said that this could be a start to that dreaded disease and I tried to reassure her that it was just her age but I was terribly worried.
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MOM'S SENSE OF HUMOR
March 31st,1995, I had an 81st birthday party for my mom. We had our favorite photographer come to our house to take a photo of my mom with her seven great grandchildren. It was a wonderful party with balloons, great food and super presents. The next day I called to talk to mom about her exciting party and she did not remember anything about it. She said "Well that's a shame I can't remember the party but tell me this. Did I have a good time? "We both had a good laugh and it diffused the terror that we felt.