Comments on Alzheimer's Team: Holidays and Alzheimer's

Hi, Krista. Not sure if you are still taking comm...

2011-03-09T13:13:30.380-08:00

Hi, Krista. Not sure if you are still taking comments. I came across your blog today because I am doing research on Alzheimer's for my children's novel, called "The Oldest". My main character is a girl named Willa who's beloved neighbor, Henry, develops Alzheimers. She is the oldest of 11 children and is constantly left to take care of her siblings, but Henry is always there to lend a hand. I wanted to use some of your info in my book, only if that is OK with you. I would credit your blog in my credits. If you would like to chat further, I have a blog also. It is about parenting. http://www.momperks.wordpress.com or roeyebert@aol.com
I'm sorry about your father. God Bless, Roey Ebert

It is awful how Alzheimer's patients and famil...

2010-07-23T17:36:45.325-07:00

It is awful how Alzheimer's patients and family members are both suffering. We recently started to video tape a friend's mother who is early stage of Alzheimer's. This has been very therapeutic for the family and a pleasure I could help.

Thanks for your comments. We have tried getting my...

2010-01-21T10:52:56.382-08:00

Thanks for your comments. We have tried getting my dad involved earlier but I think he just too far gone now. He can't do anything really. Creative arts is great though. Thank you!

Krista

Dear Kritsa, I too have recently discovered your ...

2010-01-19T02:59:21.945-08:00

Dear Kritsa,

I too have recently discovered your blog. Am wondering if you have tried getting your dad involved with the creative arts.

Last week saw a documentary on this topic and many AD patients, even late stage, regain some communications through the arts. For info, there is a comprehensive description of the film "I Remember Better When I Paint" posted in the Alzheimer's Reading Room: http://www.alzheimersreadingroom.com/2010/01/film-premiere-i-remember-better-when-i.html

Perhaps this can help your dad.

I have a friend whose parents are diagnosed with A...

2009-12-24T19:52:16.216-08:00

I have a friend whose parents are diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. I feel for her in the holiday season.

My wife and I felt the same way about my mother-in...

2009-12-04T12:09:53.742-08:00

My wife and I felt the same way about my mother-in-law around Christmas. We learned to bring her over to our house before the activities got under way and before there were too many people around so the situation wouldn't overwhelm her. That worked for awhile, but we had to stop eventually because just bringing her to the house was too hard on her. It was difficult for us to not have her around for Christmas and special days and I'm not sure we ever got past it.

Earlier this year, my wife discovered "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova. It's written from the from the Alzheimer's victim's point of view. It gave us a perspective we hadn't considered before. We realized that she towards the end, she was "living in the moment." WE were upset and missed her through Christmas day, but she didn't really miss us - or Christmas. She was just happy she wasn't being moved! We saw that she was likely unaware of many of the things that we found upsetting. We found this perspective to be comforting - I hope you do as well.

For the first few years, my mom was still quite we...

2009-12-03T10:15:14.858-08:00

For the first few years, my mom was still quite well physically so we would bring her over to my house for holidays for the afternoon and supper. We chose my house specifically because we have a bathroom on the main floor so there's no stairs involved (those were a bit tricky for her!). My house was only a 15 minute drive from the home so there wasn't a lot of travel time.

In the last few years, we did not bring mom out on holidays because she was just not well enough physically anymore and we worried about her getting hurt in transport (she was quite heavy so we struggled when helping her move!) or having health issues while away from the home (who had nurses and doctors on duty). I remember the last time we had mom out and it was really hard. We pretty well knew that it was time to accept that it was just too hard on everyone (including mom) to bring her out. It was sad but the right choice.