My older brother has had it for about ten years. The medication he took really helped slow the progression of the disease. Today I got an email from my sisterinlaw telling me they had to take his phone away and he has become to confused to exhange emails with people. Heartbreaking.
My wife works at a hospital with Alzheimers patients. It is sad. Unfortunately my father and mother in law have it also. Last week my mom was telling me she took him to the pool (he was a very good swimmer) but sadly... he forgot how to swim. He just walked around the pool moving his arms and when my mom asked if he was going to swin he said 'I am!' HBO did a nice series on Alzheimers... and they allow you to stream the episodes from the web: http://www.hbo.com/alzheimers/ And of course my favorite Alzheimers music video... Veronica by Elvis Costello [video=dailymotion;x1yxzy]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1yxzy_elvis-costello-veronica_music[/video]
Yes it is absolutely horrible. My grandfather was a genius with a double doctorate and it slowly and painfully took everything from him. I hope research being done can eventually find a cure or at least a way to early identify and prevent the disease.
My great Uncle has it. Practically raised my dad and this disease is slowly killing him too. Very independent person who lost his leg in WWII and then his wife a few years ago and kept on swinging. Said he never wanted to have anyone take care of him, but now his phone had to be taken away from him as well as his computer and someone is practically taking care of him every moment now. Really sad to have anyone in your family with this disease.
Sorry to hear about that, but I'll toss in a "bad way to go..." My grandmother was one of those women who could do it all. Get up, get the kids ready, make a bacon-and-eggs breakfast every morning for my grandfather (who, unsurprisingly, died of a heart attack), got everyone out the door, then put on her lab coat and went work as a research electrical engineer at OECO. Play pretty good golf on the weekends, when she wasn't the commander of the local Coast Guard Auxiliary. One day when she was 61 she had a stroke. WHile she could still putter around with the grandkids, she couldn't form actual words or make her hands remember how to write, so it became trying to communicate with her as if she was a baby. And the part that sucked was that you could tell she knew exactly what she wanted/needed, but couldn't communicate it. I hope never to be in either. Prayers for your family.
