Sunday, January 3, 2010

ALZHEIMER'S BLOG

I don't really like coffee myself but I do enjoy the smell of it in the morning. When I first got married, we lived in the basement of my in-laws house where my father in law had built an apartment. One of the memories I have is the smell of coffee in the morning. Both my mother and father in law had to have their coffee to start their day. I am a morning person and would wake up in the morning very talkative, and alive. They liked it quiet in the morning, and when I would run upstairs to say hi, they would be sitting there waiting on their coffee and telling me it was to early to be talking. In time they got themselves a timer for their coffee pot so that the coffee would be made before they got up.

One of the major signs of Alzheimer's is difficult performing familiar tasks. My husband remembered one morning when he caught dad making coffee. Dad had coffee for over fifty years and definitely knew how to make it. But this one day dad did not change the grounds, and than he took the old cold coffee inside the pot and was pouring it back through. It just broke Jimmy's heart to see that.

As the disease got worse dad forgot how to turn on and off the TV set, and turn on and off the light switches. This is such a terrible disease. It is so hard to see a man that taught you so much about life, now not know how to make coffee, or turn on a light switch.

Being a caregiver is a very hard job. It hurts to see your loved one so incapable of doing every day things. Just remember to have patience with them. Show them that you love them, and don't criticise them.

Sincerely,
Marie Fostino
Alzheimer's A Caretakers Journal
Seaboard Press an Imprint Of James A Rock Pub., Co.
www.mariefostino.com

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