Tag Archives: lewy body dementia

Praying for the End in Dementialand

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I was 23 when my grandpa passed away. He had a lot of chronic health conditions, including diabetes, and he’d recently had a leg amputated. The last time I saw him in person, he kept calling the guy I was dating at the time “Steve” (although his name was not Steve) and he was very grateful to “Steve” for helping him figure out the remote control to his crappy TV at the hospital. The last time I talked to him on the phone, he was telling me about a church picnic that he had attended. He mentioned he brought brownies in a basket. There had been no church picnic.

I remember sitting on the bed in my small grad school apartment with my black cat, Teela, as my mom called me to tell he that he died. It seems surreal that I still have Teela (although now she has three doggie brothers and a feline sister–oh, and a dad!) and am looking at her in her kitty condo as I type this today. It seems so long ago, but I guess it wasn’t that long ago because I still have Teela–although she is a bit heavier and moves slower…I could say the same about myself though.

I asked my mom if she thought I should call my grandma to express my condolences. To be honest, I wanted her to tell me not to bother Grandma. I was a little nervous to make the call. I didn’t know what to say. When Grandma answered the phone, she launched into a story about the Red Roof Inn she was staying at near my grandpa’s hospital. She had spent a lot of nights there, and they were kind enough to not charge her for the night my grandpa died. She was absolutely overwhelmed by their kindness. I think of this every time I see a Red Roof Inn to this day.

I didn’t really know what to say when she paused after praising the employees of the Red Roof Inn, so I blurted out, “I’m sorry about Grandpa.”

“Oh, honey,” she said. “I was praying for the Lord to take him. I knew he wasn’t gonna be strong enough to come home after losing that leg. It was the best thing.”

The best thing?

At that point in time, I had this idea that we all should fight for our lives to the bitter end. I saw death as failure, not as a natural part of life. And I wasn’t sure what I thought of someone hoping and praying for a loved one to pass away.

In a way, I was glad my grandma accepted my grandpa’s death on some level. On the other hand, I couldn’t wrap my mind around the notion that my grandma prayed for my grandpa to die. I can assure you that the experiences I have had between then and now have absolutely allowed me to wrap my mind around this.

I was speaking with a woman recently whose husband has a type of dementia that can progress very quickly. I pointed out that this rare type of dementia has a shorter life expectancy than Alzheimer’s and most other types of dementia. I had only known this woman for about…3 minutes…so I worried that I’d said too much and was perhaps being a bit pessimistic and blunt when I had no idea where she was at with this.

“Oh, thank God,” she said. “The quicker this progresses, the better.” Then she looked horrified, like she couldn’t believe she said this to me.

There are many people who live well with dementia. Unfortunately, her husband is currently not one of them. And she wants this over as soon as possible, for him and for her.

Then she asked, “Am I a bad person for wishing he dies sooner rather than later?”

I wasn’t quite sure how to respond. It seemed like a question for a ethicist, pastor, or philosopher rather than for me. All I could do was reassure her that her feelings were normal considering the circumstances. She was absolutely right that he seems to have little quality of life. He spends most of his day in their bed–but with his eyes open–and he gets upset if she tries to turn on the lights or the TV. He recently told their kids that he was sorry he ever had them, and he had even become aggressive toward one of his grandchildren. She also pointed out that he’d be really upset if he realized that all the money he had worked so hard to save would likely be eaten up by a nursing home.

So, are you a bad person for hoping that your loved one with late-stage dementia passes away rather than lingers on? Absolutely not. This is normal. It’s also normal that you might wish for them to pass away in one moment but in the next minute be willing to do anything to keep them on this earth.

And when they do die, it is normal to feel guilty that you wished that they would pass away and then want them back. It is normal to feel a variety of emotions when a loved one with dementia dies, but one of those emotions may be relief. And–no–none of this makes you a bad person. It makes you human.

If someone says to me that they want their loved one to “go quickly” or “leave soon” or any other euphemism we can use to avoid the actual term “death,” it may be partially from a selfish place–because being a care partner is demanding.

However, I find that more frequently it has nothing to do with the care partner and everything to do with the person with dementia. While some people with dementia live a life worth living right up until the moment they depart, we cannot say that everyone with dementia has a positive quality of life from dementia to death. It’s just not true. Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, Lewy-Body Dementia, frontotemporal dementia…these can be cruel diseases.

When we look at our loved ones and see depression, anxiety, and pain (physical and emotional), we may hope for death. Don’t beat yourself up if you pray every night for God to peacefully take your parent, spouse, or sibling. No judgment here. And if you attend a dementia caregiving support group and mention that you are ready for your loved one to pass away, you will see a chorus of nods and knowing looks.

I fully anticipate that this post will offend someone. And I am offended as well. I am offended that dementia causes such suffering that one would at some point hope for death for a family member or friend–and that as a society we haven’t been empathetic or supportive enough to those in the midst of this journey.

Why We Can’t Afford to Accept Dementialand (And What the General Public Hasn’t Yet Figured Out)

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I think I’ve given someone the wrong impression about how I feel about Alzheimer’s and related dementias. Someone the other day said to me, “I think you’re right. We just need to accept that old people get dementia and lose their memories.” Hmmmm….. I took a deep breath. It’s not just about old people and it’s not just about memory loss.

Also, I think a point of misunderstanding here is how I’ve used the term acceptance in my blog and public speaking. When someone has dementia, we need to accept the changes the occur. Fighting those changes is a bit like try to herd cats (inefficient and frustrating for all involved).

But should we accept Alzheimer’s and related dementias? Absolutely not. We should fight by increasing education and research. We cannot afford (financially or otherwise) to throw in the towel on this battle.

I could make a case that we need to find a cure or prevention method for diseases that cause dementia because these diseases (e.g., Alzheimer’s, Lewy Body Dementia, Frontotemporal Dementia) cause suffering and end lives. But I am going to take a different approach–one that may be more appealing to legislators, policymakers, and economists.

If Alzheimer’s and related dementias progress to end stage, most individuals need 24/7 care and reside in nursing homes. Keep in mind the most common reason for nursing home admittance is dementia. If we can prevent or cure dementia, more people will be able to stay in their homes (or at least seek out a less intensive care option) as they age. Most people would choose to stay at home given the option. We don’t like to be dependent. We don’t want to be told when and what to eat. But beyond that…nursing home care is expensive at the individual and societal level.

Some people have enough personal wealth to pay for their nursing home care until the end of life. A few people have long term care insurance (and some of these individuals quickly find out that their policies do not cover what they expect they will). But the rest of us….

The rest of us pay until we can’t pay anymore, and our family is decimated financially. At this point, the state pays for our nursing home care. (Contrary to popular belief, Medicare only pays for nursing home care in very limited short-term cases.) As people live longer and more individuals have Alzheimer’s and related dementias, as a society we will struggle to pay for care. And I think the word “struggle” is an understatement.

The cost of nursing home care is dependent on where one lives and a few others factors (e.g., semi vs. private room, level of care). However, a widely-reported mean is $220 to $250 a day. This adds up to $80,300 to $91,250 a year. And you thought college was expensive. Very few of us can pay for an extended stay in a nursing home without long term care insurance or state assistance. And it’s rare that people have long term care insurance because it’s expensive and you have to be pretty healthy to qualify. Sometimes in the end it turns out to be a rip off anyway.

I’m not sure legislators understand the financial crisis this will create. In fact, I have participated in three informational panels for state legislators to learn more about the need for funding for research and support for Alzheimer’s and related dementia. Each time I came in my business suit (a rarity for me) prepared with financial numbers and statistics. The total number of legislators that attended the three sessions combined: Three. Actually, make that two. One legislator attended two sessions, and it’s misleading to count him twice. The general public doesn’t get that this is an impending financial and public health crisis, and apparently legislators don’t get it either.

In my opinion, the biggest challenge we face when we try to rally support for Alzheimer’s and dementia funding is combating the myth the dementia is only about memory loss. The general public still thinks that dementia is the natural process of increasing forgetfulness that occurs as we get older.

First of all, dementia is not normal aging. (And I will add the dementia doesn’t only impact old people. I know people in their late 30’s with Alzheimer’s and related dementias.) There are some normal age-related memory changes, but these normal changes do not severely impact daily life.

I speak to many older women who worry they have dementia because they used to be able to bake their signature cake from memory and now they need to look at the recipe. Sometimes people think they have Alzheimer’s because they used to be able to remember several items at the grocery store without writing them down. Now they need to write a list. Those are normal age-related memory changes. When we have these changes, we can use strategies (e.g., recipes and lists) so that they don’t negatively impact our lives. These strategies may work at the start of dementia, but over time a person becomes incapable of following a recipe or creating a list.

The other piece of the myth of dementia that has held us back in terms of research and funding is the incorrect assumption that this is just about memory. Memory loss is one part of dementia. I hate to be this harsh, but dementia is about eventual complete and total brain failure. Take a second and think about what your brain controls…. Actually, it may be easier to think of what your brain doesn’t control. Your brain is the control center for EVERYTHING about you.

What does your brain control? Your mood. Your movement. Your memory. Your swallowing. Your immune system. Your impulses. Your breathing. Your speech. Your language. Your non-verbal communication. Your facial expressions. And this is by no means a complete list.

So here are some things that may happen with Alzheimer’s and related dementias that are not memory related:

1. People with dementia might eat things that aren’t edible, like marbles or rubber bands. They might not realize the food they are eating is spoiled or that it’s not prepared (e.g., eating cake mix or raw eggs).

2. Dementia can cause a person to have issues with balance and movement. It is common for dementia to cause someone to be unsteady on their feet and fall down stairs. Eventually, it can progress to the point that the person can no longer walk. At the end stage, people are bed bound and pressure sores are problematic.

3. An early sign of dementia is being unable to detect sarcasm. A person with dementia may also be unable to figure out that someone is lying even when it is apparent to others.

5. Compulsive behavior (such as repeatedly locking doors or buying a large number of food items even though the pantry is already stocked) can be a sign of dementia. Someone who starts pacing around the house compulsively might have dementia.

6. A lack of eye contact during conversation or inappropriate staring in public places might be a sign of dementia. A person’s non-verbal communication skills can become compromised.

7. Often dementia is mistaken for depression. Many people go to the doctor early in their disease process and are misdiagnosed as having clinical depression. This can be tricky because, not surprisingly, people who have dementia are often also depressed.

8. Dementia impacts the part of the brain that regulates mood, so being moody or displaying inappropriate moods can be a sign of dementia. If someone starts laughing at things that aren’t funny, they may have dementia.

9. Dementia can impact swallowing, and individuals are at an increased risk for choking. Often families must make a decision about whether or not a feeding tube is an option. People at the end stage of their illness may also aspirate on oral secretions.

10. At the end stage, the immune system is compromised. The brain activates the immune system. As brain cells die, the immune system doesn’t respond as it should. It is common for someone with end stage Alzheimer’s to die of a urinary tract infection that has spread.

It’s not just about memory. It’s not normal.

And we can’t afford to just accept Alzheimer’s and related dementias. It’s time to fight.

Before and After in Dementialand (Or Why I Watch TLC and HGTV)

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I was talking to some friends a few weeks back, and the TV show My 600-Pound Life on TLC came up in conversation. It’s a reality show about super-obese individuals who get weight loss surgery and attempt to change their lives for the better.

For some reason, I was hesitant to admit to my friends that I watch the show. I wanted to say I had never heard of it. I wanted to say I had no interest in watching a reality show like that. Yet, the truth is that I have a season pass on my DVR. I started thinking about what it was about this particular show that I enjoy, and I finally realized why it appeals me. I love a good before-and-after.

I used to watch What Not to Wear. I DVR’ed that one as well. I would watch the beginning but then fast forward to the end. I didn’t care about all the shopping and hair talk in the middle. The make-up tips didn’t interest me. I only cared about the before and the after.

I’m really not that into homes, design, or decorating, but I watch a bunch of shows on HGTV. Why? Because I enjoy the transformation. I love the idea of taking something that is in shambles and making it something wonderful. I also have somewhat of a crush on the Property Brother that does the construction. (The one that does the real estate number-crunching stuff just isn’t my type.)

I really get into those house-flipping shows. There’s Flip or Flop, Rehab Addict, Fixer Upper… If you know me at all, you know I have no interest in flipping a house. If I ever talk about flipping a house, please do an intervention. I like the idea of flipping a house, although it’s not something I have the skills to pursue. I just like the notion of transforming something into something much better. It’s about the before-and-after. The before is dull and drab. The after is bright and shiny.

I also watch Intervention on A&E for the before-and-after effect. Someone might be a drug addict before but maybe–just maybe–they can be a productive member of society after. There a certain level of hope in that.

In grad school, I lived with my friend, Lisa. We would watch Intervention every Sunday at 9 pm. Exactly at 9:40 (as the family was just gathering for the intervention), Lisa would say it was time for her to go to bed. It still bothers me that she didn’t get to see the after of all those drug addicts. Why watch if you don’t get a chance to see the after? Couldn’t she stay up past her bedtime just one night a week? (As a side note: Lisa was a pretty great roommate. My only complaints about her are that she wouldn’t watch the end of Intervention with me and she had the willpower to eat only one cookie per day out of a huge bag in the freezer.)

Families impacted by dementia are often caught up in the before-and-after. There are the years before dementia. Then there’s the after. Everyone with dementia is different, and dementia affects everyone in a different way. But there’s no doubt that the after is not the same as the before. (A person with Alzheimer’s once said to me, “I’m still me but I’m a different me.”)

When I meet someone with dementia that has progressed past the earlier stages, I notice that their family often needs to tell me about the before. Maybe she used to be a successful real estate agent who could sell any house in a week. Maybe he was a teacher who touched a thousand lives. Maybe he was a cop or a firefighter who selflessly served his community. Maybe she made the absolute best apple pies on the face of the earth.

And I always listen when they tell me about the before. There is value in knowing about the before. It helps us to connect with an individual with dementia when we know where they’ve been, but I feel like the family is sometimes telling us this for a different reason. They are telling us about the before because the after isn’t enough. They want us to understand that this person is more than what we see in front of us.

I once met a woman with Alzheimer’s who had been a fantastic golfer. She and her husband traveled around the country playing in golf tournaments. Her family told me that she had been incredibly competitive…to the point where she would trash talk other female golfers. Her kids told me that she didn’t make a lot of friends on the golf course, but she won a lot of huge trophies which now decorated her room at the memory care community as reminder of her before. She once told an employee that she won all the trophies for having the largest cow at the state fair. Obviously, they didn’t hold the same meaning to her that they did to her family. They were a before thing. She was in the after.

As her Alzheimer’s progressed, she could no longer go out and play nine holes of golf. Her kids started taking her to the driving range until she was unable to do that. After she moved into memory care, a creative staff member went to Walmart and bought a few items so they could set up a mini-golf course in the hallway. The woman lit up like the staff had not seen before. The ball never went in the hole, but she would putt up and down the hallway for hours.

The staff expected her family to be excited when they arrived and saw how much fun she was having. They were not excited. In fact, they were angry and saddened. They thought it was demeaning that a woman who had once been a competitive golfer was now aimlessly pushing a wiffle ball up and down the hallway with a plastic golf club. They were caught up in comparing the before to the after.

I realized recently that my love of the before-and-after does not extend to working with individuals with dementia. It’s not that I don’t care about the before. It’s fun to hear about a person’s past, and the before holds some keys to what might work when you try to improve the qualify of life for someone with dementia. Most importantly, no one wants their life to be forgotten. We want to know that people will remember what we did and how we did it. We want to know that what we’ve done has been meaningful and worthy of remembering–especially if don’t remember it ourselves.

Although we should remember the before, we also need to let go of it. If we don’t let go of the before, we can’t appreciate the after. This is easier for a professional caregiver than a family caregiver. Professional caregivers don’t have a before in their mind when they work with someone who has dementia. Family caregivers often can’t get the before out of their mind.

I have recently realized that I must not be the only person who enjoys TV shows based on the before-and-after concept. There’s Restaurant: Impossible, Biggest Loser, Extreme Weight Loss, Flea Market Flip….You can probably name many more if you think about.
But there is no before-and-after reality TV show about Dementialand. I’m not sure how many people would tune in. When the after isn’t always bright and shiny, sometimes the show loses its appeal.

Stuffed Cats and Real Cats in Dementialand

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I once got in a tense argument about whether a stuffed cat was a real cat. For the record, it was a stuffed cat but really it was a real cat.

About ten years ago, I was visiting with a hospice patient on a weekly basis. Linda-not her real name-had vascular dementia (as well as multiple other health conditions) and lived at an assisted living. She was reserved when I first started stopping by, and I had trouble connecting with her.

One day, I notice a stuffed cat sitting on her bed. She sees me looking at it and asks if I like cats. I tell her that I do. She smiles.

“Well,” she says. “You’ll love my Tiger. He is quite a cat.”

I’m not sure if she thinks Tiger was a real cat or not, so I walk over to pet him.

“Be careful,” she warns. “Tiger still has his claws.”

Yep. Linda thinks Tiger is a real cat. I shift gears and start interacting with Tiger as if he is a real cat. In other words, I step into her reality. Linda perks up some, and suddenly we have a connection. I figure out that Tiger is the key to engaging her.

Every time I stop by, I ask about Tiger right after I come in. He’s usually on her bed. Sometimes I pick him up and put him on the windowsill so he can watch the birds. A few times we find a nice sun puddle on the floor for him. One day she mentions that Tiger looks chunkier and accuses me of sneaking him tuna. I confess, and she smiles. I even buy Tiger a toy. Yes, I spend $5 on a toy for a stuffed cat. And Linda is beside herself with excitement, and I’ve forgotten that Tiger isn’t a real, living, breathing feline.

I come by one summer day while her son is visiting. When I ask Linda about Tiger, he rolls his eyes.

He tells me, “I’ve told her time and time again that Tiger has been dead for five years. He got hit by a car on the highway.” Linda looks at him, and then at me. I’m really not sure what to say.

“Actually, Tiger’s okay. He’s right here,” I say tentatively. The son takes a long look at me as I pet Tiger. I’m pretty sure he’s wondering if I’m the biggest idiot he’s ever met.

“You are petting a stuffed cat,” he says. “That’s not a live cat. It’s stuffed.” Let’s just say Linda’s son and I are not on the same page here, and I’m not about to let him break his mother’s heart.

“No, Tiger is a real. Alive and well,” I say. This is awkward. The son is not going to relent, and neither am I. I have now decided I am not going to admit to the son that the cat is stuffed. And once I pick a battle, I’m all in. He glares at me.

“Do you really not know this cat is stuffed? We bought him at Walmart,” he responds. “This is a stuffed cat.” At this point I should take this guy out in the hallway and explain why I am set on insisting Tiger is a real cat, but I don’t think of that at the time.

“Well, Linda knows that Tiger is real, so Tiger is real,” I say. At this point, I have Tiger cradled in my arms. I’m squeezing him tighter and tighter as I get more and more frustrated. If Tiger were alive, I might have suffocated him.

The son stares me down. It’s intense. Linda looks at me, and then at her son. He sighs and walks into the other room. I consider it a victory.

Candor in Dementialand (aka Notes on Whether My Hair is Scroungy like an Alley Cat)

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I sometimes struggle with apathy when making decisions about the big things in life–like my hair. It used to be closer to chin length and now it’s shoulder length.

I’ve asked a few friends if they like it better shorter or longer and no one gives me a straight answer. They say things like, “Oh, it looks good both ways.” They are being nice…I get that. But sometimes I want honesty.

Fortunately, I work with people who have dementia. I was at a Memory Trunks program last week when a gentleman with vascular dementia asked me, “Is your hair longer these days?”

“Yeah,” I responded. “I don’t know if I should be growing it out or keeping it shorter.” He interrupts.

“Cut it. Cut it. Cut it,” he says. “It looks scroungy and there’s no point.” An honest opinion. He looks me right in the eye. For effect, he adds, “SCROUNGY. And pointless.”

I can tell this makes the staff uncomfortable. An employee steps in and says, “You have such pretty hair. It looks great longer or shorter.” But they don’t need to worry. I enjoy the honesty.

I later told my friend Holly that someone with dementia said my hair was scroungy. She told me that I am the least scroungy-looking person she knows. When I told another friend, Jen, she said, “Scroungy? Like an alley cat?” Yeah, maybe.

I’ve been told that I’ve put on weight (truth….). I’ve been asked why I was wearing combat boots (In fact, they were $150 boots I had saved to splurge on). It’s been suggested that I wear lipstick–because men like women who wear lipstick. I’ve been told my voice is annoying.

And I should point out that none of these comments from people with dementia were mean-spirited. They were simply honest observations.

I have to admit that in life there are times that we shouldn’t be completely honest. Sometimes honestly is hurtful. But I think a little honestly is refreshing sometimes. And sometimes I have to credit people with dementia for making sure I don’t take myself too seriously.

A few months back, I gave a presentation on dementia to a small group of professional woman in the morning. I had been in a rush and grabbed piece of toast with peanut butter to eat in the car on the way there. I gave the presentation and thought it went pretty well. Next I went to do some programming for people with dementia at an assisted living. I sat down in a chair and greeted them.

“Good morning,” I said. “My name is Elaine.”

“Elaine,” said a tiny woman sitting several feet to my left in a wheelchair. “You have peanut butter on your breast.”

I looked down, and sure enough there was a huge glob of peanut butter on my shirt. Keep in mind that I had already spoken to a group of 20 women that morning. I am positive that at least ten of those women had to have noticed the giant mass on peanut butter stuck to my shirt. No one mentioned it. I’m assuming they thought it would be awkward and didn’t want to embarrass me, but someone pointed it out within three minutes of my arrival at an assisted living.

They don’t care that I have a PhD. My credentials mean nothing to them, and that’s as it should be. To them, I’m not Dr. Eshbaugh. I’m just a woman with scroungy hair and peanut butter on her shirt. And there’s something about this that I really like.

The day after I was told I have scroungy hair, I made a hair appointment. I didn’t get it all cut off, but I did get it texturized and have some layers cut around my face. I’m hoping I look less like an alley cat.

Missed Potential in Dementialand

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We spend too much time thinking about what people can’t do rather than focusing on what they can do. And I am no exception. Sometimes I forget to look for the abilities and strengths of people with dementia. How blind can I be?

Speaking of abilities…My friend Jen Eby is amazingly talented. She made me a beautiful quilt for Christmas. It matches the colors we just painted the living and dining room. I am like Linus from the Peanuts gang with this quilt. I carry it from the couch, to the recliner, to bed…If it were acceptable, I would take it to work. And, considering Iowa’s recent weather, I may consider this even if it’s not acceptable.

I was texting with Jen about how much I love this quilt and how I wish I had a hobby like quilting that I could do at night to unwind. We were talking about how I could learn crocheting. (If you know me, you may be laughing at this thought. I’m not offended.) Jen said there were plenty of online resources, including YouTube tutorials, for people who want to learn to crochet. She said it’s not that hard to teach yourself.

Then she reminded me that I was a gerontologist and asked if I knew any older ladies who might like to teach me.

Wow. I was disappointed in myself that it was so obvious and yet I hadn’t thought of it. I walk in and out of nursing homes, memory care units, and adult day services a few times a week. I see many women knitting or crocheting. Some of them have dementia. They may struggle to tell me what season it is or what they had for breakfast, but they continue making blankets, hats, gloves, you name it….But when thinking about how I could learn to crochet, it never occurred to me to use them as a resource.

Why hadn’t it occurred to me? I am always promoting positive views of dementia (or at least trying to). Yet I hadn’t thought about asking one of my friends with dementia to teach me to crochet until Jen suggested it.

As dementia progresses, affected persons may struggle to learn new things because of compromised short-term memory. But sometimes the ability to teach remains long after the ability to learn heads south.

Just like the rest of us, individuals with dementia are unique. As the saying goes, “If you’ve seen one person with dementia, you’ve seen one person with dementia.” And their skills and capabilities are unique.

We talk a lot about what people with dementia can’t do. We discuss their challenges. We know it’s a struggle.

And, yet, they sometimes amaze me.

I once talked to a woman who was in her 50’s and working on her master’s degree when she was diagnosed with younger-onset Alzheimer’s. She was able to finish up her degree. She got it done faster because she knew it might get harder if she procrastinated and her dementia progressed.

I am continually impressed with those who have dementia but remain involved in advocacy work. They lobby for more money to be put toward research, work to reduce stigma, and talk about their experiences to help the rest of us “get it.” I know a lot of people in the earlier stages of dementia who participate in significant amounts of volunteer work in a variety of settings. Of course, some are in the workplace. Sure, they may have limitations, but really don’t we all have our limitations?

I like to think that every person I come in contact with knows something I don’t know. Everyone has something to teach me–whether or they are aware they are teaching me or not. Dementia doesn’t change this. In fact, over the past few years people with dementia have been some of my best teachers. They’ve taught me historical lessons (about things like flagpole sitting, D-Day, and why we use tinsel on Christmas trees) and life lessons (e.g., the stuff that really matters in life).

And to think it never occurred to me that someone with dementia could teach me to crochet.

P.S. I still haven’t learned to crochet. Not that I don’t have anyone to teach me. Just that I decided it seems kinda boring and tedious. As I said, we all have our strengths. I’ve come to the realization that crocheting might not be one of mine.

Pop Quizzes in Dementialand

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I’ve just done a program and am leaving a memory care community. I’m just about the put in the “code” to exit the building (which I always mess up) when a woman gets my attention.

“Hey!” she yells. “I’m a grandma!” She’s sitting on a couch with a pink blanket over her lap, and I decide to walk over and chat a few minutes. I’m not in a hurry to get back to campus anyway.

“So you’re a grandma?” I ask.

“Yep,” she says proudly. “My granddaughter was born just a couple of days ago.”

I have no idea whether or not this is true. Her granddaughter could be my age, but it doesn’t matter.

“That’s great. What’s her name?” I ask.

The woman looks at me. Long pause. Then her eyes get sad. Dang. That’s a mistake on my part.

A minute ago this woman was excited to tell me about her granddaughter. Now she’s embarrassed and sad because she doesn’t know her granddaughter’s name. Way to go, Elaine.

Instead of asking her to recall specific info about her granddaughter, I should have said, “Tell me more about your granddaughter.” She might have told me that she was 8 pounds when she was born, that she had blond hair, that she cries a lot. But she would be focusing on what she remembered rather than what she didn’t remember.

I talked to someone recently who had visited her grandpa who had Alzheimer’s at a nursing home. I asked how the visit went.

“Great!” she said. “He remembered what year it was, my name, where he was, and what he had for breakfast.”

All I could think was that it sounded like Grandpa had taken a test. (And, according to his granddaughter, had passed.) But most of us don’t enjoy tests.

But does recalling what year it is make it a “good day” for Grandpa? No, I don’t think so. But we like it when he remembers what year it is because it reaffirms that he’s still Grandpa.

Sometimes we say things like, “You know who I am, right, Grandpa?” This tells Grandpa that he should know who we are. If he doesn’t, he’s given the message that he’s stupid or doing something wrong.

How would you like it if someone walked up to you and made you do an algebra problem? What if they kept saying, “You know how to do this algebra problem, right? I know you do.” What if they stared at you expectantly when you were silent and your mind went completely blank?

But too often we like to make people with dementia play guessing games, which can be frustrated and tiring for them. A few years ago, a women with Alzheimer’s was sitting in her wheelchair at a nursing home. I watched as a younger man came up behind her, put his hands over her eyes, and said, “Guess who?”

I laughed out loud when she responded, “I have Alzheimer’s. My whole life is a ‘guess who’ game. Just tell me who you are, asshole.”

She had a point.

How Michelle Remold Helped Me Understand Reality in Dementialand

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I’m a college professor, and I have favorite students.

Maybe you think this is a horrible thing to say, but it’s unavoidable. I connect with some students more than others. And there are certain students for which I would go to the end of the earth.

On the top of that list is Michelle Remold, who graduated a couple years ago. And maybe I haven’t literally gone to the end of the earth for her, but I did drive to Minnesota on my own dollar to do a community education at the senior center where she currently works. Of course, she did buy me dinner and a margarita after the presentation.

Michelle created a program called Memory Trunks for our Gerontology program. I still do the program that she started. She actually made me a handbook so I could do it after she graduated. This handbook has been sitting on my desk for three years. In all honestly, I haven’t opened it in two years, but I can’t put it in a drawer because I think it’s so awesome she made it for me.

Michelle came to my office after doing Memory Trunks one day and told me a story that has stuck with me. She had been at a nursing home and was visiting with an activity director who said she “didn’t know what to do with” residents with dementia.

First, Michelle was bothered that an activity director had no idea how to work with individuals with dementia, and she should have been. Second, Michelle had an issue with a statement the activity director made about how the residents with dementia had such “active imaginations.”

Something clicked for me. Michelle was right on. We need to stop thinking that people with dementia have “active imaginations” and accept what they hear, see, feel, and touch as their reality.

One of the most important truths I have discovered over the past several years is that what people with dementia experience is as real as what I experience.

I recently talked to a friend who told me her grandma had dementia and thought a couple with a cat lived in the corner of her bedroom. That couple with their cat? They were just as real to her as the laptop I am typing on right now is to me. If you try to talk her out of thinking that couple lives in her bedroom, you’re gonna have the same result you have if you tell me that there’s no laptop in front of me.

I have a short video clip I show in class. A woman with Alzheimer’s thinks there are snakes in her wheelchair. She’s terrified–as I would be if I were surrounded by snakes as I sit here on the couch. The only effective strategy for eliminating her anxiety is to acknowledge this as reality and remove her from the wheelchair with the snakes. Whether or not these snakes are part of your reality is irrelevant.

We need to stop trying to talk people out of their reality. Furthermore, we need to stop thinking that our reality is more important than their reality.

Thanks, Michelle.

I Don’t Live In Dementialand

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What is it like to live with dementia? I have no idea.

I have a string of analogies I use to explain to families and caregivers what it’s like to live in Dementialand, but the truth is that I don’t know what it’s like.

I know someone who works in adult day services. She works with a woman who has younger-onset Alzheimer’s. I’ll call her Tina.

Tina is prone to what can be best described as meltdowns. In fact, that’s what Tina calls them. Her meltdowns are due to the smallest of things. Someone sat on the end of the couch–where she was planning to sit. The pants she wanted to wear were in the wash. Her nail polish chipped. And, one time, someone used the term “tippy toes,” which she found childish and annoying.

She cries. She gets angry. She can’t calm down or stop shaking. After the meltdown dissipates, she says to my friend, “I’m sorry about my meltdown, but you have no idea what it’s like to have this disease.”

And it’s true. Sometimes when I am doing my best at trying to help someone with dementia and failing miserably, they will remind me that I don’t get it. Sometimes they don’t even have to remind me. Sometimes people will cry and I can’t figure out exactly what’s wrong. I don’t know what they’re going through. I visit Dementialand, but I don’t live there.

As a person without dementia, I don’t get it. And as many people as I talk to and as many research articles as I read, I won’t ever really get it–unless I’m diagnosed, of course. I’ve been through the Virtual Dementia Tour and several other simulations meant to make a person feel like they have dementia. It’s a valuable experience and one I recommend, but I know I’m just visiting.

So here’s the point of my blog today…THANK YOU to those of you who have dementia who try to show me and tell me what it’s like, even though we both know I will never really get it.

They try to show me and tell me in different ways. People with dementia have blogs. They write books and poetry. They allow themselves to be videotaped. They try to verbalize, even though it is hard, what it’s like to live in Dementialand. They allow me to spend time with them, just so I can understand a little bit better.

But the truth remains. I visit Dementialand but I don’t live there.

Yogis in Dementialand

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Come to hot yoga, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.

And I can’t lie. It is fun–in a sort of brutal way that leaves me dripping wet with mascara running down my cheeks.

Yoga isn’t foreign to me. I’m a certified fitness instructor, and I used to teach some yoga myself. But hot yoga just seems different…intimidating…and really, really hot. Scorching.

The instructor preaches a lot of the same things I preach in Dementialand.

“Let go of your expectations. Stay in the moment,” she says. “Focus on the present without looking forward or back. Appreciate being in the here and now.”

I am ridiculously bad at following these instructions. I continue to think about all the emails I have to send when I get home and what TV shows are waiting for me on our TiVo. I wonder if the soup we made over the weekend is still edible.

“No comparisons,” she reminds us. “Don’t compare yourself to the person in front of you, behind you, to your left, or to your right.”

As she refers to each person around me, I look at them with the sole purpose of comparison. I am definitely the oldest person in my immediate vicinity. The joys of living in a college town.

“And don’t compare what you can do today to what you could do yesterday,” she says. This goes against other things I’ve been told in various areas of my life. Isn’t comparing the “you of yesterday” to the “you of today” the basis for personal growth and improvement? How do you have goals if you don’t look forward and back? I’m not all that philosophical though. I’m just hoping maybe if I do this a few times a week my upper body will be more toned.

Hot yoga is tough. As I enter what I consider to be the stage immediately before one goes into extreme heat exhaustion, the instructions seem to get more cryptic.

“Step your right foot between your hands and look over your left shoulder as you press the top of the left foot to the map,” she says. Left-right-right-WHAT? I need references to one body part at a time. I look at the girl in front of me and think she’s doing it wrong. Then I realize I’m doing it wrong. Or maybe I’m right and she’s wrong after all.

I can’t say I hate it. It’s challenging, and I eventually buy a membership to the hot yoga studio. But I can’t help but think that Yogaland is a little bit like Dementialand.

In Dementialand, we tell you to let go of expectations. We tell you to live in the moment. We tell you to stop comparing yourself. That’s what you have to do to get the most out of life with dementia. It’s also what you need to do to get the best out of hot yoga, but I really wouldn’t know. I’m too busy thinking about what I have to do and comparing myself to others. If I ever enter Dementialand full-time, I hope I can do better at following instructions.

A few weeks back I talked to a woman in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. Although still functioning at a really high level, she was depressed. Throughout her life, she was fantastic at designing and sewing clothes. She could still do simple patterns, but her work paled in comparison to what she could do a few years back. As someone who can’t sew, I was still impressed with her projects. I told her it was 100 times better than anything I could do. Probably the wrong thing to say.

“So I’m better at sewing than someone who has never sewn. Great,” she said sarcastically. Obviously, attempting to get her to compare her work to my (lack of) work was not going to make her feel better. She was set on comparing her current work to what she used to be able to do.

I tried again. I tried to tell her to focus on the joy of sewing and not the outcome. She told me that I really had no idea how great she used to be at sewing. She even made wedding dresses. She couldn’t do stuff like that anymore.

“My whole life people have told me to work hard and get better at things. Now everyone is telling me to let go of that and be okay with being bad at stuff I used to be good at it. How do I flip that switch?” she asked. I really had no idea.

What I didn’t tell her was that there may come a point when she can enjoy sewing again. Why? Because she will likely forget that she used to be an all-star at sewing. There will likely come a point when she has no memory of making wedding dresses for friends and family.  I don’t know whether to hope that comes soon for her or not.