My Race. Our Challenge.
When you told me the other day how my mom is showing signs of agitation, that she resists re-direction, gets into everything, and that she sometimes makes fists and gives dirty looks, I was really thinking – And your point is . . . ? Mom has a brain disease. She has advanced dementia, Alzheimer’s [...]
My mother, who has advanced Alzheimer’s disease, had a grand mal seizure last Thursday that left her unconscious and earned her a trip to the hospital. She’s back home and appears to be recovered, but she’s declining rapidly and we’ve been advised to contact hospice. It’s been suggested that my mom has less than 6 [...]
In “Mom Update: February 2013″ I wrote about how quickly mom’s disease is progressing and how it might be something in addition to or instead of Alzheimer’s disease. Oh we’ve been calling it Alzheimer’s disease, but the truth is — we don’t know what mom has. Mom had an MRI in 2006 that ruled out [...]
There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings, given to us to learn from. ~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross “I think your mom has about a year,” is all I remember from my first visit with mom last week. I didn’t get a chance to ask questions until our Care Meeting on Wednesday, but by [...]
Next Saturday I fly from the cold state of Virginia to the freezing cold state of Minnesota. With one friend going to Puerto Rico this month and another on a Caribbean Cruise, I can’t help but wonder if I have it backwards by heading north. But this is what it’s come to — my airline [...]
The funny thing is, it didn’t occur to me the Alzheimer’s I’d be racing, would be my mom’s. New Year Resolutions are like a Bucket List, only with a deadline. I’ve been writing down resolutions for years now, with some previous goals being to participate in Alzheimer’s research, learn how to meditate, lose 5lbs. (of [...]
An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered. ~ G. K. Chesterton Parenting is one of the hardest jobs there is, and I’m pretty sure the fierce animal love we have for our children is what makes it possible to parent day after day without drowning ourselves in the bath water. So it’s sort of a [...]
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” ~ Anaïs Nin It’s official! I’m a “Guest Blogger!” A website I found called “Aging Abundantly” spoke to me one day saying: Aging Abundantly is here for you ~ the woman who is in the midst of the greatest transformation of her life ~ you who are [...]
September 2012 -- Mom and I in the backyard of her Assisted Living Home, 7 years after her diagnosis of probable Alzheimer's disease.