LizV
Caring for my mom Member since June 25, 2013mom is 75 and has AD. when i think back, her journey seemed to start at around 65, when she stared blankly at me at the airport when i arrived home from 8 years living in munich, germany. for that one minute, she didn't even recognize me [i looked the same]. then came the personality change, then came the insomnia, bizarre new behaviors and mean/rudeness, then came blacking out entire conversations. i begged her to see a doc but she was in denial and lived 3 years writing notes to herself to try and sound ok to me on the phone. finally a hospital called [i lived hours away] to say she had dementia and i had better not leave her alone anymore. i came back just over a year ago.
so here i am. she is at around stage 5.5 i think. can eat and dress and toilet but can't do anything else and recently took a turn for the even more confused, forgetting even her best friends' names and putting cigarettes out in paper towels and tissue boxes. so much lies ahead for both of us.. the hardest parts are yet to come. i am currently in a stage where i dont even remember who she was before alzheimers. it's the promised roller coaster ride for sure.