This blog is about life with my husband who was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's and Frontal Lobe Dementia in 2008. He was 64 at the time although now, knowing more about the disease, Alzheimer's was present many, many years ago, which is why early detection is so important. As you read the blog the character "Al" that I created in 2008, represents the way that Alzheimer's is invading our daily lives.
There is an archive tab further down the page that starts from the beginning of our journey.

Monday, July 20, 2015

Living with Bob and "Al"

One thing Sheri has always tried to do with this blog is to be very careful to separate Bob the man from "Al" the disease and to think and pray carefully about what she posts. She has also struggled  to give a really good explanation of what it means to become "cognitively impaired" by this disease, with words alone. People hear Alzheimer s and they always think forgetting things. But as the disease progresses it becomes so much more than that.
The video Sheri has attached is hard for Sheri to watch, and normally she would have stepped in to help. She is posting it as an educational tool and she knows in her heart that Bob would have wanted  her to share this if it meant bringing a little awareness to the devastating affects of this disease.

A little bit of set up about the video. Bob wears a back brace and has for many years. He had just come out of the bathroom and had accidentally left part of the back brace out of his pants. At the beginning of the video he is trying to figure out what to do with it, and where it goes. As the video progresses he looses his way. Please watch carefully and through to the end.

This is 8 minutes long for us... but  for "Al" and others like him , this is 8 minutes out of his 1440 minutes a day,  of which all 1440 minutes are just like these 8 minutes. Thank you for watching.

Posted by at
Labels: , , , , ,

4 comments:

  1. I'm not your MumJuly 20, 2015 at 10:39 PM

    Poor Bob, he knows something is wrong, but Al can't figure out what it is. I think at one point he may have considered using a bolt to fix it, and the iceblock stick too. It must be so hard to watch. My Mum (at the age of 65) just rubs anything and everything. Mostly her hands together, but if she has any washing to "fold", then that gets rubbed monotonously too. It's painful to watch hour after hour, but theres so little she can do now. I have to climb in the shower with her every morning to wash her, as she will only wash her hands..... nothing else. Good luck for your hunt for a home for Bob, I know we are just getting the rumblings of those thoughts in our heads too. It's hard with 2 teenagers in the house too, and no other family support (my other siblings and father won't help out) and sometimes you just need a break more than just a few hours during the day (when she goes to day care)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SheriJuly 21, 2015 at 5:05 AM

      Thanks for the feedback. Yes he did pick up a stick and a nut and bolt. I get anxious just watching the video. I am so sorry about your Mum, this disease is so different for everyone. I am sad your family does not support you. Hugs

      Delete
  2. AnonymousJuly 21, 2015 at 12:29 AM

    Sheri, the video says more in eight minutes than full-length movies I've seen. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)