Stress and the Brain

My Father has had Lyme's Disease for several years. This week it flared in his ankle and he could barely walk. In my Mother's concern, she has become more frantic and forgetful. When she is stressed she gets worse.

The Day Before the Memory Clinic

In the last few month Mom has been doing well. Mother's Day she was very good. She seems most prone to losing her words or a name when she is tired or stressed. She took a bit of a fall and bumped her head last week. 12 stitches later and she seems back to base line. In the course of the week, she thought that Dad was her Father for a minute. We had a little visit on Wednesday and she seemed OK. Her appointment at the Memory Clinic was delayed until tomorrow. I'm going to go with my parents for support and to see for myself what the evaluation tells us. I'm worried, but glad to know that we will have a diagnosis for what we're dealing with. Trying to be supportive of my Dad as his sweetheart slips away from him in front of his eyes. Yes, it makes me sad.

My Name

My Mother has forgotten my name. And sometimes who I am, even when she is looking at me. She still seems to like me.

Noticing the Loss

My Mother has always been a bit flaky, but usually knew what was going on. At 85 years old she copes pretty well. Over the last year she has been losing her words. At first, coming to a person's name or a place and losing the words. Having four kids, she always used to run through the other 3 before she came to yours, so not that noticeable at first. As the holidays approached, it happened more and more and my Father started telling me about things that had been going on day to day. Mom is losing brain function. She gets frustrated, but for the most part is good natured about it. After the holidays we did a little research and found the Memory Clinic here in RI. After going through their questionnaire, it looks like she is dealing with some dimentia, leaning toward Alzheimer's. She has an appointment to be evaluated on May 1st. Best to face this head on and get a little  help with the resources to what could be a long, challenging road. And we begin....