Last night after we got back from taking Heather to the Nashville airport to catch her plane to Lubbock, we sat around and caught up on things we hadn’t been able to do during her visit. Kate asked me if I wanted an “Alzheimer’s Update.” I said that I did. She then told me that her brain had been doing funny things. She couldn’t recall much of the specifics but was able to tell me that it involved seeing places she had been in the distant past. One example she was able to recall was seeing herself going down the stairs into the family room at our first house in Knoxville. She said she was well aware that she wasn’t actually there or actually seeing it but that she would just have a flash of some past memory. We don’t know but tend to think this is in some way connected to Alzheimer’s. I suspect we may learn quite a few other things that we haven’t known before.
She also said she was adapting and thought she was getting along pretty well. She seemed to speak comfortably about it last night although we did not take much time, and I didn’t ask a lot of questions that usually annoy her because it is hard for her to answer. My dad has similar experiences.
I tend to think she is doing well except when she is under pressure to handle some task. The mother’s family album was one of those things. She is trying to finish up two PEO scholarship applications that are due this Friday. She has indicated any number of times that she is just about finished, but she continues working. I have worked with her a little and can see that she doesn’t follow instructions well. That seems to be particular important when you are completing an application online. She has been quite frustrated which bothers me. I want to help and have done a little, but she really wants to do it herself. I hope that she does not do this next year. This is simply too much.
