Once you accept and understand Alzheimer's - the environment changes. Everything slows down. You slow down. Instead of feeling chaos and stress, you start to feel comfortable. Normal actually.
Once I started understanding this parallel world, I started feeling calmer. Amazingly, as I became calmer so did my mother Dotty.
In Alzheimer's World, all the new, different, and disconcerting behaviors that come with Alzheimer's are the norm. The normal. Behaviors that you come to expect and accept.
By Bob DeMarco
Alzheimer's Reading Room
| Subscribe to the Alzheimer's Reading Room |
When you step into this parallel universe, you start to accept these behaviors.
With acceptance comes understanding and peace of mind.
Once you accept and understand - the environment changes.
Everything slows down. You slow down.
Instead of feeling chaos and stress, you start to feel comfortable. Normal actually.
The Alzheimer's patient starts to feel different also.
Instead of thinking you are the enemy, they start to feel that you are the protector. Their security blanket.
Did you ever wonder why most Alzheimer's patients stick like glue to their caregiver? Call out their name when they can't see them? Want to know where you are when they can't see you?
You are the one person that makes a person living with Alzheimer's feel secure. You are their attachment to the World. A world that at times seems scary, confusing, and unnerving to them.
Some caregivers might conclude that a person living with Alzheimer's is not the person they knew. Let's flip the coin.
I suspect they might be feeling you are the only person they can trust. The only person they can rely on through thick and thin.
Alzheimer's patients might not be able to remember the short term; however, they can certainly feel.
It is likely that they are relying on you more than you can imagine.
They might not be able to tell you this. But deep down inside they know,
So flip the coin. Think, I am the ONE person in the world that this person can rely on. Think,
Without me, they would be "scared to death", alone, and sinking fast into the dark hole of Alzheimer's.
Without you.
Recommended Reading
What's the Difference Between Alzheimer's and Dementia
How to Get Answers to Your Questions About Alzheimer's and Dementia
Test Your Memory for Dementia and Alzheimer's (5 Best Tests)
10 Things a Person Living with Dementia Would Tell You If They Could
You are reading original content the Alzheimer's Reading Room