Health & Wellness

Grandmother's Prayer

admin — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:07:43 -0600

My grandmother was affected with Alzheimer's disease, and when she was no longer able to live alone, she went to stay at my uncle's house.

She needed help to dress. She lived in a constant state of confusion. She could still make sentences as she rambled on, but her sentences made no sense.

There was no way to carry on a conversation with her. And no longer was it feasible for her to attend church. She was literally cut off from everything she had treasured—including God.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

mcherkezian — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:43:45 -0600

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.—John 1:5

That Christmas we reluctantly decided it had become too hard on my mom to take her from her Alzheimer’s unit to Christmas dinner with the family. Osteoporosis and heart problems had set in, and she was growing feeble.

Widow Walks 10,000 Miles in Husband's Memory

batch — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:05:07 -0500

At age 88, Martha Michel reached a remarkable milestone—and she did it to honor the memory of her late husband, Lester.

On October 24, Martha completed her goal of walking 10,000 miles. It was a project that took her 11 years of daily laps around a lake at the Namaste Alzheimer Center, the Colorado Springs Gazette reports.

A Second Chance

admin — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 10:43:00 -0600

The phone call came one cool winter day. It was the manager of the trailer park where my father lived. "Mrs. Rose, something is seriously wrong with your father," he said. "Would you come down here and check on him?"

It had been a long time since I'd seen my father, and I wasn't in any hurry to change that. I had left home years ago and never looked back. I married a good man and raised a wonderful daughter. I had my own life now—one that I had worked hard to build.

Alzheimer's Memory Walk Participants Share Personal Stories

batch — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:05:16 -0500

As many as 5.3 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease, according to statistics from the Alzheimer's Association.

But every year, several thousand people across the U.S. band together to raise money to help fight the disease by taking part in Memory Walks, which are organized through the Alzheimer's Association and take place on various dates throughout the year.

The Broken Music Box

batch — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:19:38 -0500

The red digits on the clock glowed: 2 a.m. My husband, Homer, slept soundly beside me, his breathing as peaceful as a child's. And yet at any minute he might wake up, not knowing who I was, wondering why I was in bed with him.

Alzheimer's disease had robbed us of our happy plans for retirement. The sense of security I once felt about life with Homer had been destroyed. He followed me around the house, asking the same questions over and over, a bewildered look in his sunken brown eyes.

"I Know You"

jbloustein — Wed, 06 May 2009 09:33:41 -0500

I nosed my Jeep Cherokee into a parking spot at the care center and took a deep breath. I dreaded going inside. Would Bob be angry today? I didn’t think I could handle it.

I’d put my husband in the Alzheimer’s unit two years earlier, when caring for him became impossible. Now he’d deteriorated to the point where he didn’t know me. I was the woman he’d been married to for over 40 years, yet this cruel disease had rendered me a stranger. It was as if Bob were going through some sort of living death, leaving me isolated.

Still a Team

admin — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:05:43 -0500

Driving to the Brightmoor nursing home that night for dinner with my wife, Estelle, I found myself remembering all the miles we'd logged together on our traveling seminars for the United Methodist Church.

It was Estelle who'd come up with the idea to start Discover God's Call. Like everything else we did, the seminars were a full-fledged collaboration. At the podium we shared speaking time, and on the road between churches we shared the driving.

Homeward Bound

admin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:54:49 -0500

The doorbell rang just as I was about to go to bed. Strange. I peered out the window. What was an elderly woman doing on my porch at that time of night? She seemed upset. Her hair and clothes were disheveled. I opened the door.

"Can I help you?" I asked. The woman stepped right into the foyer as if she knew where she was going. Then she stopped and looked around, a confused expression on her face. "Where's Al?" she said. "I want you to call Al."

"Who's Al?" I asked her. She stared at me and didn't answer, so I repeated the question.

The Mother I Had Always Known

admin — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:55:21 -0600

I'd always welcomed the friendly sound of my brother's voice calling from Maryland, but this time his words jolted me as I stood with the kitchen phone to my ear. "Bar," said Dick somberly, "we have to make a decision tonight. The nursing home we found down here can only hold a place for Mom until the morning, and she'll have to be in the room within a few days. They want to know right away. Call me back in an hour."