My husband and I went to a funeral home last week for a viewing.
The man who had died was in our church. He was jovial, fun and always had a story to tell.
His face always lighted with a smile when he saw us and his eyes twinkled with mischief.
We walked up to the casket in the dimly lit room and the smell of the flowers was over powering. When I saw him lying there....I knew that he was no longer in his body. His spirit was gone and the person who laid there was just a shell.
It reminded me of what Alzheimer's disease does to a person, what it has done to Peggy.
It moves into the brain and takes away the spirit, until the person is just a walking shell, empty of emotion. All of the spirit that made the person who they were...is gone.
This is how Peggy is today.
She is just an empty shell of the person that she once was.
She is like the man from our church except she is still walking around, breathing and existing.
I think that a definition of a patient of Alzheimer's Disease would be...
The walking dead.
It is a somber reality that makes me angry.
Alzheimer's took the Peggy that I knew away but left her to live out her life with no memories.
Roxanne Brown said;
Sisters---- They share the agony and the exhilaration.
As youngsters, they share Popsicles, chewing gum, hair dryers and bedrooms.
When they grow up, they share confidences, careers and children.
Some even chat on the phone for hours every day.......
That is what Alzheimer's disease has taken away from Peggy and
From me.
I Love You Today, Peggy!
I just wish that you remembered your life.
I just wish that you remembered me and that I love you.
I just wish........................................
Mary Louise
5 comments:
As a nurse I work with Alzheimers Disease everyday. I met a friend of the family a few days ago who has Pick's Disease, another horrifying progressive dementia. He is only 56. I cannot begin to imagine the agony and heartbreak of having a close loved one fading away with this disease.
http://journals.aol.com/ladeeoftheworld/PossumsPrepareforBattle
Yes. Alzhiemers is worse than most diseases because a loved one can't even say good by when a patient gone... because they are still physically living, and that is like a tease, because you expect them to rememer you, because they can still see you or hear you.
Just like with folks in a coma, they are in the middle of something that we can't identify with. But God can. And God is holding Peggy in his arms.
God bless you.
God bless Peggy in the best ways right now.
love,
Wendy
I wish right along with you, hon, and know others do too. I wish so much there was something I could do for you.
love & prayers,
Barb- http://journals.aol.com/barbpinion/HEYLETSTALK
I wish, too, and keep youi all in my tthoughts. Margo
Another great analogy. rich
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