Alzheimer's and Dementias

In order to tell you a little about myself, I must first explain who I am not. I have no medical credentials, nor am I a world famous author. To put it another way, I am no one special, but merely one of millions of people who have been affected in some way by the diseases known as Dementia, more specifically Alzheimer's. In my case, I, along with my two sisters, spent the last six years providing care to our 86 year old mother who had the disease. She was a wonderful woman, whom my sisters and I watched go from the initial stages to the advanced stages in this brief period of time. Over the past six years, I have learned a great deal about Dementia and how best to care for someone who has it. I learned quickly that one of the most important goals would be to figure out ways to keep our mother in her own home as long as safely possible. I had a good support system through this entire process, which is so very important. Having been raised in a Christian home in a small community called Only, Tennessee, we have always been a close family. Although we lost our father in 1974, our mother had always remained our foundation. I'm 62 years old and grew up during the 50's and 60's, when family values were quite different from what they are now. Not only was our immediate family close, but our extended family and friends as well. If anyone in the family got sick or hurt, everyone including our friends were concerned about helping out. Most of us "Baby Boomers", as we are commonly referred to, still feel this way. When you are fortunate enough to have other family members all helping to achieve the common goal as I have, it is less stressful on everyone. This allowed us to individually focus on more positive aspects of our mother's care. It also allowed us to figure out ways to more easily deal with each problem that arose with mother's disease. The things we learned along the way became the reason for this book. One thing I learned was how many people were going through the same things we were, but with very little of the knowledge we had acquired. I have simply tried to pour my heart out to anyone who feels the need for the information I have chosen to share.