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Feb. 23, 2006 As a baby boomer (early one at 59), dementia and Alzheimer's disease is becoming all too familiar. Everywhere you turn, whether print media or TV, you read articles on the research into the various causes of dementia--Alzheimer's disease being just one of the common forms of dementia. Are you too fat, eat the wrong foods, lead a sedentary lifestyle, or worse yet, seldom tax your brain cells? Do you take the right vitamins? Cut out foods with mercury or aluminum, or should one have fishes with Omega-e fatty oils? Are forgetting where your keys are, why you came into a particular room, or questioning your memory normal or early signs of the big "A?" News articles tell us baby boomers that more and more of us will suffer from dementia sooner or later and that this age group is liable to become a very big burden to society--no less our families. And, what pray tell should we do with all this information? I find myself counting back from 100 by 7's frequently just to prove to myself that I CAN still do it!! Can you spell W O R L D backwards? Better practice because it is just one of those cognitive questions on a test to determine your cognitive abilities. Can you draw a clock? Better study the face of your watch each day. Well, like many in our age group, I think about dementia--what will it mean for us and how will we live with the prospect? However, now a more important issue exists for my family and me. How will we deal with our 70-year old sister that was just told that she has Alzheimer's disease? I have a Master's in counseling so surely I should know how to take away the extreme anxiety my sister is feeling. I should know how to help her deal with her fear and depression, shouldn't I? I am lost to know what to do. I give her the support I can. I tell her to live each day to the fullest because none of us, even us healthy human beings right this minute, know what tomorrow will bring. I try to tell her not to think about next month, next year. Stay in the moment and do the best you can with it, I preach. But, my heart aches. In the still of the night I cry for her for I know the fear she must be facing. I know how alone she must feel going through this without a spouse or without children living nearby. She is my oldest sister. We were never really close because I was 11 years her junior and my dad's favorite. It was hard for her to get past that and for years, she made me know that in one subtle way or another. Now, however, it appears that she really needs my support and I am giving it to her in the unselfish way I have given to others all my life. I regret that she never really got to know me before in this way, but I heard her tell me a few weeks ago something that I never thought or dreamed I would have hear from her lips. I had taken her to the psychiatrist, we had gone shopping a little and grabbed some lunch in the mall. I took her to the drug store, grocery store, bank and then home to check on her meds for the week. When I was getting ready to leave, she kissed me and said, "You are wonderful." I guess one might say, it was bittersweet. Sort of too little too late, but it meant a lot to me. I only wish she had said it out of true love and admiration instead of need. Regardless, Alzheimer's disease is now not just a phrase, not just a hot topic in the media, but a disease that my sister has to deal with. She told me she wants to die and I've assessed her suicidal ideation as best I can. I'd like to be able to tell her that when I feel she has no more life to live, I will help her die, but the time isn't now. For now, all I can do is help her cope with this horrible diagnosis and stay optimistic myself as I read about what might happen to me and others I know. I also pray that they will find a cure or prevention before my own children become baby boomers. ------------ About the author Beverly Stern: M.S. in Clinical Community Counseling. Email: bstern101@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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