Monday, October 10, 2005

A face of Alzheimers

I love my aunt Barb. She was once the brightest, wittiest, sweetest person you'd ever want to meet. I aspire to be the writer that she was. She is now in an Alzheimers facility, and still witty and sweet, but the ravages of this awful disease become more and more apparent. She is having trouble with word-finding now and sometimes doesn't remember that she's in her own room, or how to get to the lunch room (just a few doors down). She sometimes confuses her daughter with my mother (unless my mother is there). It's sad to see this happen to her.

We went to visit her yesterday--my mother, myself, my cousin Denise and my other cousin (Barb's daughter), Kathy. Denise, who is a hair stylist, gave Barb a much needed haircut, though she is a bit protective of her hair and doesn't like having it too short.

1 comment:

schlomo rabinowitz said...

That was amazing. My grandfather, a smart, creative individual, spent the last five years of his life with Alzheimers... it was the worst..

thank you for this.