I was going to make a quip about your post but I didn't want to offend you thinking I was poking fun at your mom. I'm starting to notice signs with my dad as well and its very sad. We are cleaning out their house and I say "put all the hand tools you don't want in this box and we will put them in the auction" 5-10 minutes later he says "I'll never use this again , might as well throw it out" I bet that happened a dozen times. He even started going through the auction box a couple of times as if it were the first time he ever laid eyes on it.
Originally Posted by: sschind
Thanks for your consideration. I hope I wouldn't have gotten pissy but you never know. I have good days and bad days too. I know exactly what you are going through with your dad. I showed Mom a photo of her two older brothers then sent it to her in a text and email. Each time it was the first time she ever saw it. She got real joy out of seeing it.
As of how do family members deal with it- I highly recommend Learning to Speak Alzheimer's by Joanne Koenig Coste. It really explains a lot.
I will paraphrase one of the stories in the book- The daughter came to visit her mom. They had a 24/7 in home caregiver with mom. It was lunch time and the caregiver told her patient it was time to eat. She gave her a piece of fried chicken. The woman exclaimed it was her favorite and she sat there and enjoyed her meal as if she hadn't had chicken for decades.
The daughter was amazed and quietly asked how long it had been since mom had chicken. The caregiver told her she eats chicken for lunch every day. The daughter knowing it's bad to eat fried food every single day questioned the caregiver's reasoning. Caregiver said look how happy she is. DO you think one piece of chicken will effect her health that much. After all the mom was about 90 years old and she was happy.