Families with Alzheimer’s and Dementia Patients Share Their Stories

My mom is going through the early stages of Alzheimer’s. She’s 81. Her dad died almost 20 years ago of what we believe was Alzheimer’s too. Her mom passed several years ago and had dementia.

My mom was born and raised in Fort Smith, Arkansas. What I love the most about spending time with her is that I can make her laugh and in any given moment that we laugh together – it’s those moments that matter. I have learned that these folks have ‘living in the moment’ down and the rest of us struggle with doing just that.

She is still pretty aware of life as she knows it, but the hardest part is that she knows she’s losing her memory and that depresses her. She doesn’t always remember how to make a hamburger or how to dial a phone, but she can sing the words to any Elvis Presley song.

She has a physician that she doesn’t like much, but she’s afraid to change doctors. Her physician doesn’t communicate with her and sometimes calls her “Sweetie” and dismisses her concerns. She now believes the things she goes through just come with old age so she accepts everything. My dad does too because the doctor is, well, the doctor.

I was reviewing some of her medications and consulted with a pharmacist and nurse. We discovered that her doctor had her on an antidepressant that causes confusion. It seemed odd that she was on a medication to treat Alzheimer’s/dementia and it caused confusion. I worked with my dad to talk to the doctor about her meds. After the doctor changed some prescriptions, she seemed to be doing better.

I called her the other day. My dad was out playing golf and I asked her what she was doing. She was listening to Elvis Presley on the CD player and dancing around the living room! I’d say she’s living it up at 81 and in that moment with my mom, we laughed.

Takeaways:

• Try to live in the moment to enjoy the time you have together.
• Check medications and consult a doctor with questions.
• Encourage loved ones to speak up to doctors when they do something they don’t like, such as using dismissive language.

atom Alliance is collecting and sharing these stories in honor of National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month. See what else we’re doing to help improve the quality of care for older adults at www.atomAlliance.org.

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Corley Roberts, Quality Improvement Advisor, MHA, CPHQ, ACSM-HFS

Corley Roberts is an exercise physiologist and a certified Health Fitness Specialist. A published author and public speaker, she is founder of MyFitScript, a resource for education and exercise programs based on chronic disease and age. Corley currently works for Qsource, an atom Alliance member, as a Quality Improvement Advisor specializing in readmissions reduction.