Thursday, April 01, 2010

ItsFourthAndLong: My battle with Alzheimer's

ItsFourthAndLong: My battle with Alzheimer's

My battle with Alzheimer's

The Wall Street Journal had a story about Alzheimer’s Disease earlier this week.  Here’s my account of the situation.

I've been living with Alzheimer's for nearly eight years, when my mother, at 60, was diagnosed with this God-awful disease. I've never experienced anything more emotionally extracting than watching my mother suffer from this terrible condition.

The best reason the doctors could give for her dementia was that she suffered from depression. And while 60 is an early age to be hobbled with Alzheimer's, there are plenty of younger people who are diagnosed.

I met a 43-year-old man with it while touring assisted living facilities. A lawyer told me about a 42-year-old woman who was stricken.

Sure, they're the rarity. 




Stimulating your mind with a book or a game is a fine idea. But if you really want to prevent this, go for a run at least three times a week. Moving the blood around your heart and your head will do more to keep your brain in shape than anything else.

Not that reading is bad. But there's no getting around cardiovascular exercise. Your heart requires it and so does your brain.

Today, at 67, my mother lives in the Alzheimer's unit at an assisted living facility. The attendants bathe and dress her and make sure she eats. The annual cost? About $80,000.00. And it’s all private pay.

The annual tab is paid through her IRA and the money made when we sold her house.  

If you want to know stress, check out what it’s like to watch the stock market take a nosedive, as it did in the final months of 2008, and then wonder how your mother will pay her bills.  

It’s not like she’s employable. 

Add to that the time I agreed to put her on an anti-psychotic drug, Zyprexa. In dementia patients, it’s considered an “FDA-approved black label drug,” meaning death is a possible side effect. 

Every morning, my first thought is, “I killed my mother.”

Alzheimer's is described as the "long, slow, goodbye."

I wish it were faster. My mother's a shell of the lady she was. In her youth, she was vibrant, beautiful, and full of life. Now she's worn down, haggard-looking, 30 pounds overweight, and can't remember my name or anyone else’s. 

The tragedy is that physically she's in pretty good shape. Mentally, she's a vacuum, not remembering words said to her seconds ago.

I pray she dies soon. That’s when her dignity will be restored.

Don't let this disease happen to you. Go for a run three times a week and change your diet. And while you're at it, find a good book to read.

Do something, goddammit!