I should have started this blog a year or more ago. I thought that Alzheimer's Disease was people forgetting things, names, people etc. before it happened in my family - it is so much more.
My wonderful husband was an auto-electrician by trade but could turn his hand to most things, he did all the work on our vehicles, building work on our previous house, set up the mixed orchard and was constantly thinking through some plan or other.
It is so hard to see him now trying unsuccessfully to complete a small task - he doesn't even attempt such simple things as changing the wiper blades after being able to do all the fine electrical work that he did for many years.
I think that confusion is the main problem rather than the memory although I suppose they are linked. Working out what clothes to wear, which part of the house to go to for a shower, where to find cutlery and everything else needed for a meal - the list goes on and on.
The hard part is that he knows this is happening and it is frightening.
If I happen to mention to someone that my husband suffers from Alzheimer's the answer is invariably "my mother, father, grandfather etc has it as well". It seems to be spreading like wildfire. More to come....
I'm sorry for your husband's diagnosis. Yes, confusion and memory loss are linked. And in some folks the Alzheimers symptoms seem to appear more as confusion at least in some stages.
ReplyDeleteThe latest statistics from the Alzheimer's Association show that 1 in 8 Americans over the age of 65 have Alzheimer's. Which translates to 5.4 million people and 14.9 million unpaid caregivers.
The projections for Alzheimer's disease in the future is that the numbers will rapidly climb as the "Baby Boomer" generation ages.
How Can a Companion Alzheimer Info Card Template Help Caregivers?
The Knitting Dr - Thank you for your comment and the link to the Info Card Template. We have our monthly Alzheimer's Carers' Meeting on Thursday and I will take a copy of the card to the meeting.
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