I’m not a Buddhist, but I know that one of the fundamental tenets is the “impermanence” of everything. Nothing stays the same. All of us experience that, but “Living with Alzheimer’s” has given me a greater appreciation of impermanence than I had before.
During the first nine years of our journey, we were able to live happily, but we couldn’t prevent the kind of changes that Alzheimer’s brings with it. Each one has made our world a little smaller than when we began.
In addition to the activities we enjoyed together, Kate had her own activities that were important to her. They included use of her computer, driving her car, tending to her plants around our yard, activities with her P.E.O. chapter, as well as weekly lunches and shopping excursions with her dear friend Arletta Raley. She lost all of these things during the first eight years after her diagnosis.
We also lost several things that had been important to both of us. One of those was movies. With the progression of her Alzheimer’s, she became less able to follow movies. The last two we saw were close together in 2018, seven years after the diagnosis. That same year, we dropped weekly performances of the “Live in HD at the Met” operas in one of our local movie theaters.
Travel also became more difficult. Our last international trip was in 2015. In 2018, we made our last trips to visit our children.
The worst was yet to come; however, I will save that until next time.
