Are You Dealing with Breast Cancer as Well as Alzheimer’s?

Mary Emma Allen — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:00:14 +0000

Alzheimer’s disease is not always an isolated diagnosis. You may be dealing with other illnesses and disabilities as well. One of these could be breast cancer which the patient may have encountered before Alzheimer’s. Or she could have developed it while her memory was fading.

Also, often the caregiver and/or other family members have health problems., which makes the caretaking more difficult.

My aunt, who developed Alzheimer’sand ultimately became my responsibility (as well as my mom with Alzheimer’s) had experienced colon cancer several years before. Surgery resulted, and fortunately Auntie didn’t have a recurrence.

My mom had some lesions on her face that required removal. The doctor said they were malignant. Did I want further treatment? What happens when you have to make a decision like that about an Alzheimer’s patient?

Since Mother was in the very advanced stage of Alzheimer’s, it seemed more traumatic for her to undergo radiation or chemotherapy than to maintain the status quo. Just moving her around the nursing home often confused and panicked her.

So I prayed and discussed with my family, then chose to let Mother remain as she was. The cancer didn’t progress any further and no new lesions appeared before her death about six months later from heart failure.

However, often you have decisions to make about illnesses, which could include breast cancer, for the Alzheimer’s patient. They can be decisions that present a challenge and about which other family members have differing opinions.

Karen Lynch writes Pink Ribbon Review at b5 about breast cancer. You also may want to read Karen’s survivor story.

Are you facing more than Alzheimer’s in your caregiving role…either with your patient or yourself? Perhaps your story will help others if you share.