Keep them talking!
This is local news wherever you live!
A year ago the word went out all over the world for carers of Alzheimer's patients to tell me, the author of Lost Words, what words their patients and loved ones had problems with. Masses of emails from every corner of the globe poured in. They all said the same thing. The most common things confused were different foods followed by different items of clothing.
One big surprise was that so many of the letters were from people in charge of stroke victims. They explained they had the same need for Lost Words as those working with Alzheimer's patients.
Next surprise was all contacts with speech pathologists who all expressed the same need for their patients.
On release of Lost Words the teachers of special needs children eagerly bought the book and asked for a second version of Lost Words for special needs kids.
What I originally thought was a relatively narrow market has turned out to be something there is a great need for among so many groups world wide. I'm pleased I could help.
There are a lot of people out there, who know what they want, but they either can't remember the word for it or they can't speak at all. A large number of Alzheimer's patients confuse their words. An AD patient may ask for a pillow and really want a cup of coffee. Or ask for a shoe but mean a mirror.
Until the medical scientists have come up with a cure for dementia, stroke and other diseases that can affect our memory or speech we have to the best we can with what we have.
Everyone who has had anything to do with Alzheimer's patients knows that they forget things. But most of them remember things from long ago. For my mother, it was a great joy to just sit there and turn the pages of the book and she would tell stories that the different pictures reminded her of. Different times, different pictures triggered different memories and she related different stories that the pictures reminded her of.
Sometimes she'd remember a relative who grew strawberries from looking at the picture of the strawberries. Another time the rice picture made her remember that one of her brothers used to refuse to eat rice because it looked like ants eggs.
You'll be amazed what you can find out about your family.
My mum's memory of recent events wasn't that good but she had crystal-clear memories of her youth and mine and she loved to talk about it!
So in conclusion, keep it simple and keep them talking! The sick person will enjoy it and so will you!
Sydney
Australia
Mobile Telephone +61 418 29 30 94
website www.lostwords.com.au
Email dentoncook@bigpond.com
It is very good that you can help your Mom to refresh her old memory. In my father-in-law's case, I think he is getting less and less memory that we have to selectively remind him or refresh his memory or he gets too upset. For example, the patio is where he remembers more of the past. But the patio is opened only in the summer time when it is warm. So he goes there only in the summertime. This year, he got worse and the patio actually upset him much more. One time he went there being alone "reading" his local paper with real estate Ads/pctures of houses. After quite some time, say 30 minutes or more, he came back in and sat down on his sofa in the living room saying, I forgot everything! Who am I? Where am I? It is like this patio is the time tunnel and he got lost when he came back. So no more patio in the future. He cannot go there to eat supper either although he would like it later after supper. But why upset him anyway.
Some old pictures help but if they are too confusing to him, he gets upset as well. So we now choose the ones that are easier for him to remember, e.g., his late wife's pictures. If we show him something that is hard to remember, it makes him feel worse.
I think this has to do with the staging of Alzheimer's.
You are right, we should keep talking until they don't remember anything anymore.
Nina