I remember when my first family member was diagnosed with Alzheimer, and some of the definitions people used confused me. One of those definitions I wasn't perfectly clear about was Mild Cognitive Impairment. I remember hearing that, and saying 'what is mild cognitive impairment'?
Cognitive pertains to our mental processes of perception, memory, judgment, and of course reasoning. Its our way of processing thought and information.
As we get older most have some cognitive decline, because that is part of the aging process. It may take us a little longer to remember a word, or remember someone's name. We notice forgetfulness may gradually increase. In most cases these changes aren't bad enough to interfere with our normal activities.
On the other hand, mild cognitive impairment is more than just 'forgetfulness'.
Some of the Symptoms of Mild Cognitive Impairment:
You tend to lose your train of thought during conversations with people. You lose the ability to truly keep with the theme of the conversations. For example, you and your friends are talking about the senior bus trip you just got back from. You can't seem to keep up and understand the conversation.
When you are caregiving one of things that comes to mind is, 'Am I doing what they would wish?' BUT... Do your loved ones know what your wishes would be?
I wanted to talk today about a almost FREE living will form that I found. We all can relate to the resources that go into caring for our loved one with dementia and/or Alzheimer. There are too many people that think they can NOT afford making a living will, and I hope I found an option for you today that will change your mind about writing a living will.
My father wrote me a letter before he passed about some of things he wanted, and things that scared him about dying. He had all the legal living will paperwork in order, because he had a terminal illness. He talked about personal things outside the legal document issues as well. The one thing he pushed both verbally and in writing was that towards the end he wanted no pain, and wanted to be sleeping. I made sure his final wishes were done.
My brother David and I were talking about my mother wanting her hair looking good, because that makes her feel better.
Do you have your wishes known like my father did? I didn't want him to die, but I felt like I gave him a gift when his time came. His living will, and his letter made me feel at rest in some important ways when he did die. I want to give my family the same option!
As I mentioned last time I will give a 'readers digest' version of what my mother in law saw as we dealt with my grandfather. She saw all three relatives, but my grandfather's story is one that ticks me off royal! She got to see us up close and personal WHY we hate this disease, and I can't blame her for saying - Dementia is different than Alzheimer!
After what we went through? The avoidance, denial, and stigmas attached to Dementia and Alzheimer? I hate it but its understandable. I think it effects people when they see how bad things can get. I see it has human nature in some ways, but on the hand I want to say, "PEOPLE WAKE UP!"
My second grandparent that had Alzheimer's would be my grandfather. We called him Poppaw. We as a family had a hard time of it helping to care for him. We lived 1,000 miles away, and my grandmother (Mimi) and he were a very traditional southern couple.
Mimi made a promise to him regarding NO nursing home, and letting him to die in their house. That is all well and good, but my grandmother was in her mid 80's at this time. She as well as starting to slip mentally, and I'm sure part of it was the stress of caregiving.
My mother was of course in contact with the state they lived in, and we found out very quickly how individualistic the state was.
It was hard to get them to cooperate when it was clear to us that we needed to have Poppaw removed from the house. It made no sense the resistance that we got, because he was clearly a danger to himself and others.
You would have thought they would have CLUE one after the police picked him up from wandering the streets of his town, and having to bring him back home (this happened more than once)! That's just ONE example! Another would be the soot on the ceiling of their home from a fire at the stove.
It has been a few years since I have had to directly deal with Alzheimer I have been doing a little catching up lately. Sadly, I have found that some things have changed, and others just stay the same.
My Father in Law had dementia, but he passed away from other complications. I remember when we first got his diagnoses, and my mother in law was adamant that dementia was different than Alzheimer.
To this day I have to still speak about 'similarities', and treat them as different. To her the 'forgetfulness' is different somehow. I don't know what the reason was, because I stopped even going there. I had the first taste of someone truly having issues coming to grips with how Dementia and Alzheimer's were NOT connected in her eyes, and of course the stigma attached.
I have had loads of experience just going with the flow compared to reality when it comes to dealing with this disease. I went with the flow of her opinion as well. That it truly didn't bother me just to treat them as separate for her sake. Its not worth fighting about it, because everyone deals with this in their own way.
I will admit it did hurt when she would remind me it wasn't like my family with Alzheimer's. She never would have meant it to be hurtful, but at the time I do remember taking a bit personally. No, I don't think she ever knew in past or even knows presently. I don't take it that way now. It was a bit fresh back then.
Since my father in law never got the point of my family members with the progression of the disease? I think it just easier for her. I'm sure part of it was from the fear of watching what was happening in my family.
My mother was diagnosed with Dementia in 2010. I wanted to write about my experiences as our family deals with this awful disease. We have had three relatives prior to mother with Alzheimer disease, and have to admit I'm not looking forward to doing this again. This time so much closer to home.
