I’ve also heard of the heartbreak of Alzheimer’s patients who can’t remember that their spouse is deceased. When they are lucid enough to ask for their spouse and are reminded that this spouse has passed away, it is like hearing this devastating news for the first time. Over and over again.
Many recommend just saying that the spouse is busy or couldn’t make it that day.
Very sad. I admit this story seems a bit voyeuristic, but it is also educating people to the real challenges this horrible disease brings to the whole family.
My mother couldn't remember that one of my brothers had died. We were in the emergency room one day when she started asking about him. I made the mistake of reminding her he was gone. When she realized she had forgotten it was as though she was hearing the news for the first time all over again. After that when she would ask about him I would say he's working a lot of overtime and couldn't come around to see her.
It's a shame some families have to put their loved ones in homes. My mother's doctor bugged me for about a year to do that but I had made a promise to my mother that I never would. She died before the disease got to the final stages but she died in her own home. Taking care of her got to be very difficult but I have no regrets.
Alzheimer's is a very cruel disease. And I'm afraid one of my brothers is starting to show signs of it. I only hope it's his medication or grieving or something. A few other relatives have had it. I think my family is prone to it.
That was my mother in law. My husband finally resigned himself to "being" his late father on a regular basis.
When she did remember he was her son she berated him for not bringing his daughter to visit her. A little over a year after she passed away we had our first child, a daughter.