My sister-in-law posted this on her Facebook status tonight:
"Imprisonment in one's own rapidly shrinking brain is how a doctor
described it to me. I wouldn't wish Dementia/Alzheimer's on my worst
enemy. As the patient's brain slowly dies, they change physically and
eventually forget who their loved ones are. Patients can eventually
become bedridden, unable to move & unable to eat or drink. There
will be people who will scroll by this message because
Dementia/Alzheimer's has not touched them. They may not know what it's
like to have a loved one who has led a
battle against Dementia/Alzheimer's. For all the people I know, I ask a
small favor. If you know someone who has battled with
Dementia/Alzheimer's or is still struggling copy and paste to support
victims & families affected by this cruel illness as there is no
cure and there are no survivors! Hold your finger on the message to copy
it, then paste it on your page. No tagging or sharing. Do this on
behalf of all caregivers who love or care for someone with this disease.
Thank you."
I don't share things via my Facebook status and, well, I guess I don't really update my status at all. I'm just not big into sharing mundane details of my everyday life on Facebook (no offense to those of you who are) but I thought I would update the blog cause it was nice of my sister-in-law to post that. Dad hasn't been texting much and he's sounds off when we talk. He says that they need to make more adjustments to his medication but he doesn't see the neurologist for a bit yet. It's a fine line because he needs to sleep through the dreams but yet he needs to be able to function and not be falling all the time.
It seems that the more time that passes since we visited after Christmas the better things seem to get in my life. It's easier to distance myself from everything. I don't know how I would live with it day to day like my mom, brother and sister-in-law do but then that's all they know. Lewy Body Dementia is a part of their normal and while there are curve balls thrown into the mix as the disease progresses, they adjust, re-set and continue on. So in saying that I suppose if I was living there I wouldn't be able to imagine it any other way but oh God I pray for you to be with them and give them strength because that has to be a really hard normal to live with sometimes.
What to pray for... my mom will be going on a trip and dad will be staying with my brother and sis-in-law so prayers for everything to go smoothly while dad is there would be appreciated. Grace, strength and patience.
What I'm grateful for... my friends. I don't know how I would get through day to day life without laughing at the most stupid of things.
