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Sunday, May 10, 2009

The Memory Loss Tapes --Comments and Reactions Wanted



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Once you have viewed the Memory Loss Tapes feel free to enter your comments and reactions.

If you would like me to put your question up as a separate post -- send it to me via email and I will.

Feel free to share the link to this article with friends, family, and other interested parties -- http://www.alzheimersreadingroom.com/2009/05/memory-loss-tapes-comments-and.html
Personally, I could write quite a bit but I don't want to taint the conversation.

I will say, I believe the first part of the documentary was excellent. It was tastefully done. It was not the horror show that I thought it might be reading the early reviews. If it frightened anyone, so be it.

I found myself chuckling a few times. I found myself shaking my head up and down a few times. Been there, experienced that. But mostly, I found myself breathing harder than usual. I often had tears rolling out of the corners of my eyes. I felt a wide range of emotions. It felt both good and bad to have that kind of reactions.

What I saw was a lot of wonderful people. Really courageous and caring.

And like always, it reminded me -- I am not alone. There are millions of us --we are the ones.


I wish I could talk to some of these people. Who knows, maybe I will.

I found Josephine's daughter extremely interesting. Alone, so alone.

I found myself thinking, I like that fence idea. I also liked hearing that her friends helped her do it. Wonderful people. Wandering is a much bigger problem than was portrayed in the documentary. I cannot fathom what the terror must be like when someone with Alzheimer's wanders off. Sufferer terror, caregiver terror, family terror.

I believe Josephine's daughter was much too tough on herself -- blaming herself when her mother put a stone in her mouth. I bet a lot of caregivers feel lots of blame. Caregivers, including Josephine's daughter, should put everything in a very broad context. It is clear she is doing a wonderful job and one little incident amongst thousands of trial and tribulations is not enough to blame yourself. We are all far from perfect and caregiving is a very difficult job.

Questions:
  • How did you feel about the fence?
  • Was Josephine's daughter too hard on herself?
  • In your experience what early signs of Alzheimer's other than memory loss can you tell us about?
  • What makes Alzheimer's care giving different?
  • How do you, your family and friends communicate with someone suffering from Alzheimer's?


Alzheimer's Disease -- Advice and Insight

Bob DeMarco is the Founder of the Alzheimer's Reading Room and an Alzheimer's caregiver. Bob has written more than 2,101 articles with more than 272,100 links on the Internet. Bob resides in Delray Beach, FL.


Original content Bob DeMarco, the Alzheimer's Reading Room

4 comments:

  1. Once again, I caught myself using the Kleenex tissues. Particularly hard was the last gentleman in Hospice. In my line of work I am the last person holding my client's hands when they die. I have seen that face at the end of his life a dozen times and have always kept professional, but tonight as well as the first time I saw the the screening copy I broke down. Yolanda and Josephine most reminded me of mom. Felt really bad for Josephine's daughter having to remove the stone from her mom's mouth. Oh things like that happened to me as well and then I was hard on myself. We caregivers never know what is appropriate and what is overkill. I am so quick to see that with my client family members. I have not previewed tomorrow night's episode and will wait to see it with the general public. This episode was wonderfully done. Very realistic in every aspect of AD.
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  2. Well I must say that I was dreading watching The Memory Loss Tapes but was so surprised at how comforting it was! I also found myself nodding and tearful.

    I lilked the fence idea, really, open space to wander and be safe. When I saw her going to get the mail I knew what might be next - walking right on ahead on the road. And Bob, I think it was you that I had the conversation with regarding "parenting mindset" - I related so well hearing Josephinie's daugher say she had never had children and saw herself in that role with with her mother! And yes, with the stone in her mouth, I so wanted to reach and just hug her. Early on in caring for my mother I so remember hitting my forehead and saying stupid stupid stupid. I sure am glad that passed.

    Judy.
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  3. That's a great post. Did you know that memory loss can be treated. http://www.photographic-memory.org has plenty of methods and techniques that you can use to improve your memory condition. You might want to give it a shot.
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  4. I'm living with my Mom's Alzheimer's and it's such a sad process ... it's like she has gone and we have someone who looks like her in her place. She lives in the 30 seconds of right-now and anything before that moment has completely gone. Because of this, my sister, Dr Allison Lamont, PhD, a neuro-psychotherapist and I have set up the Brain and Memory Foundation so that we can collect all of the resources we can to help baby boomers build up their cognitive reserve NOW, while they still have all of their memory powers. Research has now established that a buffer of active and growing brain connections can help push back against memory loss. I guess it has worked for Mom in a way because she had a lively curiosity and a very active brain; it was only in her 93rd year that this rapid decline into Alzheimer's has begun to affect her so badly. The Brain and Memory Foundation is for her.
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