Follow us, as Elizabeth Murray tells the moving story of her mother’s battle with dementia. In this blog series, Murray explores every part of the experience of caring for someone with dementia, sharing her memories and insights from it all. Her words serve as a great reminder of the many ways dementia affects our lives, and the lives of our loved ones.” Driving had always been an important part of my mother’s life. She loved to tell stories about her…
As I drove us to the 9:00 a.m. meeting with Dr. Didyk a geriatrician, many thoughts ran through my head. Here we go, another appointment with another doctor. One more stupid test. I hate when they ask me to write down the clock time because I know what time it is. I’m looking forward to my Timmy’s coffee. Once Dawn and I arrived at the hospital, we grabbed a coffee and headed off to the waiting room of the gerontology…
My mother, Bruna was officially diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in January of 2011. The disease was not unknown to her family. Three of her sisters died of complications resulting from this creeping and subtle sickness, as well as her paternal grandmother. Not long after the second time she had become disoriented while driving and her ever increasing lapses in recall, I decided to take her to visit her doctor. What if she ended up hurting herself, or worse, someone else? I could never forgive myself.