Now, we’re not talking about possibly being in a constant state of confusion, or the anguish of friends and loved ones over not even being recognized, or the whole death thing. I mean aside from all that, it doesn’t sound so bad. You wouldn’t know that you had a horrible disease, so that wouldn’t torment you (if we assume an advanced case). On top of that, you’d get to be genuinely surprised countless times each day. How seldom most people get to experience the joy of discovery, of anticipation! By this measure, Alzheimer’s “sufferer’s” live in a constant state of rapture.
My mother is a nurse, and once told me of a patients with Alzheimer’s. One Sunday, she (the patient) came out of her room, saw the New York Times, and said “Hey, the Sunday Times! Mind if I borrow it?” After reading the better part of it and returning it, she would come out of her room and repeat the entire procedure 3 more times. I only get to read the Sunday Times once.
On my way to the Pit already,
VarlosZ
My apologies in advance to those currently dealing with Alzheimer’s, either directly or indirectly, as well as to anyone else who is otherwise offended.
I think it may be much more difficult for the relatives than the people who actually have the disease. I know that lots of us joke about forgetting things and say we have Alzheimer’s, but yes, there are many people for whom it isn’t a joke.
It doesn’t sound like the person asking for the newspaper was unhappy. It is a cute story.
Wow, Badtz. I can only imagine how painful that must be for you. I keep thinking of the image of the woman freaking out on her daughter, screaming, “Who are you!” and the daughter being heartbroken. I’m sorry for your pain.
Sounds like a cousin of my husbands who had a blood vessel burst in her brain, causing memory loss. It was certainly fun for her to get her birthday presents 10 times over in the same day, but you should have seen her re-live her mothers death- over and over and over, every single day. It was like fresh bad news each and every time.
VarlosZ, I’m sure you meant to be funny, but try thinking twice before posting things like that. You are probably young and have yet to experience the pain of watching others suffer through something like this, and I hope you’re blessed enough to never have to.
Look, the intent wasn’t to get everyone pissed off. I just had a vague line of thought running through my head and thought it was cute. A few people were certain to take it badly, but I had hoped that the thread would generally be a slight, good-natured chatter. I realized a bit too late that that was awfully unlikely. It was mundane and pointless, and I felt like sharing – figured this was the place. (Never paid much attention to MPSIMS before. There’s a lot of stuff here that’s more depressing and disturbing than this thread. I’ll just slip back to GD and GQ now.) Anyway, my apologies for the careless post.
I apologize for my user name. I just plucked it to register on the boards and I wish I’d chosen something in better taste. At the time I chose it the message I was implying was to “enjoy your mental abilities but remain humble”. My original intentions were to generally be a serious poster and fight human ignorance. I’m sticking with the name because of the often cerebral nature of the SDMB, and people should be aware of Alzheimers and what it does. Enjoy your flashy wit and reasoning skills while you have them. In fact, enjoy each day and make the best of it because your days are numbered.
I did not mean to offend anyone, or make fun of Alzheimers, by my choice of user name.
A couple of miles down the road from us they are opening up an assisted living center for Alzheimer’s patients. I pass it going to and from church. Every time I pass it I feel sad. Just seems like it would be unpleasant to work in, to be in, or to have a loved one in.