My Demented Mother Became a Child, I’d Used Accompanying Her Instead of Scolding Her

Coping, adapting, with Alzheimer’s disease, from the caretaker’s perspectives, translated…

As the wind and the rain died down early in the morning, I’d received a call from the police station, my mother fell in the E.R., and, other than all of us, rushing out the door, we’d found, that the front door wasn’t even closed, that the wind and the rain, had flooded our living room, but we’d not had the time, to take a closer look at it, just, rushed our ways to the hospitals.

As we arrived, we saw mom lying on the bed, already asleep, because of the medications, the doctor told us she needed to be hospitalized for a check up and treatment. As my mother woke, she had no recollection of when she got out the door, how she’d arrived to the hospitals; after a preliminary diagnosis, the doctor told us she has Alzheimer’s, and, all of a sudden, we’d, understood, why she’s behaving so abnormally recently.

From before, my mother took control of the businesses in the house, since she’d become, overwhelmed with an assortment of conditions, and our father had passed away, she’d become even more severely depressed, kept repeating the same things over, over, and over again, her physical discomfort had confined her to her room, she’d stayed indoors every single day, and had often tripped and fallen too sustained multiple injuries. With her physical conditions ailing and not sleeping well, she’d had anger bouts a lot, and became suspicious, that we were, sending her into a nursing home, causing the atmosphere at home to be overcome with shadows.

After she’d gotten lost and not known her way home, everybody became really careful, and showed her especial cares and concerns, made sure we’d closed the doors and locked up as we leave the house too. We’d added the safety supports, and the walker for her too, so my mother can have supports as she got out of bed, so even if she’d not liked leaving her room, she could still pace inside her own bedroom; and, the elderly who’s too proud, couldn’t possibly have her fingerprints printed, and so, we’d reminded her, that other than the changes in her coin purse, she’d also needed an identification card too, in case; we’d also, had her favorite grandchild to head home often, to converse with grandma, to accompany her out for walks, and even as the kids returned to school, they’d called her up every single day too.

I’d found an assortment of literature on the illness, and, as I understood this illness, the more I’d come to understand, that it’s hard for the caretaker and the patient, but only through tolerance, would there be ways, to alleviate the stresses of caretaking. The idiom of “elderly becoming childlike”, my mother, who was originally authoritarian from before, I’d not, chit chatted with her like she was my siblings, on everything, and, tried to persuade her on things like she’s my child, just, reasoned with her step-by-step, and, hopefully, my accompaniment can, give her a peace of mind, to alleviate the stresses she’s overcome with in her elderly years.

With the growth in longevity, there are more and more elderly who’d become diagnosed with dementia, the topics social supports, long-term care policies, are being discussed by the public. The patient and the families must have a healthy attitude, to ready oneself for everything that follows, so they can provide the proper needed care for their loved ones.

And, bringing about awareness on the subject of dementia and Alzheimer’s shouldn’t be put off, because other than the accompaniments of their loved ones, having a friendly environment to live in is also very important, in encouraging the elderly patients to start socializing more.

So, the trend is that Alzheimer’s disease is slowly, taking over the elderly population, and, as we live longer and longer, there would be, more and more of these illnesses, diseases of old age that we will come face to face with, and, it is important, that there is a friendly environment for the elderly in the population to live in, and, slowly, with more researches on the area, there would be more and more ways, to help improve the quality of life for these elderly who are already diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.