Thursday Thirteen – 13 Ways Alzheimer’s Patients Bring Joy

AlzheimersNotes.com

THURSDAY THIRTEEN

“Alzheimer’s patients bringing joy!” you exclaim.  “No way.  That’s a horrible illness for patient and family.’

However, my family and I discovered that caring for Mother and Auntie, although frustrating and time consuming, did bring us joy and laughter.  We hope we contributed pleasure to their Alzheimer’s world, too.

Let me share the ways:

1. We all learned to laugh at life and the situation to lighten our load.  “We don’t laugh enough, “ Mother once remarked when we chuckled over some incident brought by Alzheimer’s.
2. Caring for others brings us closer in a different way, I discovered.
3. We learned to appreciate a tea party at the nursing home with three generations.
4. When we stopped to listen, we found Mother and Auntie’s stories of days ago interesting and informative.  I’m glad I wrote some of them down.
5. Mother’s smile when a small great grandson held her hand and looked at her was precious.
6. Watching the reflections in our deck door which Mother thought visitors seemed silly then.  Now every time I see “people” there, I think of her.
7. Visiting Mother’s various worlds presented a daily adventure.  I never knew who I’d be or whom we might see.
8. In later days, when she occasionally “broke through that Alzheimer’s shell” and recognized me was precious.  I realized there still was a bond of spirit that was unbroken.
9. When I rubbed lotion on her hands and arms and she said, “That feels so good,” I knew the joy of serving others.
10. My granddaughter responded to the query, “Why do you visit her when she doesn’t know you?” with “Because it makes Great Grandma happy.”  I knew my grandchildren were learning the joy of caring, too.
11. We took Mother for a autumn ride midst the colorful foliage, when she still lived at home.  It was time we thought we should be doing something else.  However, Mother’s pleasure in this jaunt remains with me today whenever the fall colors abound.  I realized that time was well spent bringing Mother joy and me fond memories.
12. Mother’s enjoyment of the bird feeder my husband placed on our deck caused me to stop and notice, too, our winter visitors.
13. We slowed our world, not always by our choosing, to match Mother and Auntie’s pace and marched to a different tune for awhile.  Upon reflection, we realize that seeing “through Alzheimer’s eyes” gave us greater understanding.

Stop and keep track of the small daily joys.  I wish I’d written down more, but when we’re busy and frustrated and involved in an almost unknown situation, we usually don’t take the time.  Upon reflection, I find myself remembering the joys and laughing at the frustrations.

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(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen