Personal Narrative: My Experience With Severe Alzheimer's Disease

When I was five years old, my grandma quickly progressed into showing signs of alzheimer's and as the days went on it progressed into a very serious case of alzheimer's. As they discussed in their presentation, it was difficult for us all to deal with this situation but, even more so for me since I was so young and I simply could not understand why my own grandma could not remember my name anymore. I wasn't angry or guilty like they discussed in their presentation, I was confused and upset despite the number of times my parents tried to explain to me what was happening to my grandma. Consequently, this had an impact on our family which is why I think it is really important to talk about dementia and the effects on a family. Undoubtedly, it is difficult for the person displaying signs of dementia to go on living life as their health worsens over time, but it is also important to educate families on how to deal with such a difficult part of

It was faded red, and slow: on Volkswagen time. Others rushed impatiently. It said, “Speed limit will do. No hurry.”

In October 2010 my grandma was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's is a progressive disease the destroys memory and mental functions. This life changing experience has taught my family courage, forgiveness, strength, and so much more.

If someone last year would have told me that in a year my family would receive a call that would change our lives, I would have told they had to be joking. But sadly it did. About five years ago we started the long and challenging journey of Alzheimer’s with my mom’s mom, whom I called Nana. It wasn’t until the end, her passing and her memorial, when I realized how much it impacted us and what my family really meant to me. Disease sucks, but sadly it is something no one can completely prevent, only cope with. The enormous 5 year journey of Alzheimer’s started back in December of 2012 when my family received the news that my Nana was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Although this did not come as a huge surprise to us, as we had been suspecting the diagnosis for a few months we still knew it would be a big change. She didn’t change much in the first year or two of the disease. She would just forget to do normal day to day things, such as eat, tie her shoe, and she would sometimes be in her own world not really knowing what was happening. As the disease progressed my Nana became less and less like the person I had known from the beginning. She

He smiled at me with tearful eyes as his pain slowly diffused away. 'Thank You Dr Duraiz!' he said. So exhausted he was, and in considerable pain, too, that he fell asleep within moments. My grandfather suffers from Alzheimer's disease and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia. It was a cold winter night around 3 a.m that he became agitated and started complaining of abdominal pain due to urinary retention. As my parents were discussing for him to be taken to the hospital, i stepped in. I argued against him to be taken to the hospital. Living in a small town of Pakistan has it's own disadvantages. Not having proper medical care and/or a proper medical setup. Studying at one of the best medical schools, Aga Khan Medical College, i found our city hospital to be very unhygenic and was sure that my grandfather would end up having a urinary tract infection. Instead, i went to a medical supply department and bought all the equipment needed to catheterize him. And my decision paid-off well. My grandfather did not have to go through the trouble of being transported to the hospital and it gave me memory that i will cherish my entire life.

“Hello, Jere Fran. Your black curls are just as beautiful as ever. Won’t you come sit at my desk?” My great-aunt Ruby used to say this to me every time I visited her. I would tell her, “Hello,” then follow her orders and sit beside her on the bed. For a ten-year-old, this situation perplexed me. My name was is Hannah, I have long brown hair, and there was no desk in sight. Why did she not know who I was? Why did she think her bed was a desk? My Aunt’s strange behavior was due to Alzheimer’s disease. She didn’t know me in the present but she vividly remembered my grandmother, her niece, as a girl my age, coming to visit her at lunchtime at her office. “Hello, Jere Fran. Your black curls are just as beautiful as ever. Won’t you come sit at my desk?” Aunt Ruby would say to her. My grandmother would take a seat in her office chair that swiveled, her dark curls bouncing all around as the chair spun. Alzheimer’s disease has taught me patience and inspired me to help others. The experience of caring for a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s disease inspired me to help others and is the prime reason of my career choice.

Researchers are on the look out of why some individuals who have the brain changes associated with the earlier points of the continuum do not go on to develop the over symptoms of the later points of the continuum. The accumulation of the protein beta-amyloid outside neurons in the brain and the accumulation of the protein tau inside neurons are the main contributors in the development of the Alzheimer's disease. A healthy adult brain will contain 100 billion neurons, each with long, branching extensions. These extensions will help individual neurons to form specialized connections with other neurons. These specialized connections are called synapses, and information flows in tiny chemical pulses released by one neuron and detected by

At the age of fifteen, I knew I wanted to walk my own path. I was very close to my grandparents when I was younger and we did everything together. On December 11, 2008 my grandmother was coming to the end of a long hard fight with ovarian cancer. A hospice, Julie, was always in the house checking my grandmother’s conditions as she was in a coma. On this particular night I remember Julie taking my grandpa into the kitchen and him running up the stairs after she came out. I knew that this represented bad news for our family. Julie sat at my grandmother’s bed side with me through the night. She comforted me as I was mourning the passing of my grandmother. How Julie was able to balance her care for me and my grandmother that night was amazing. Julie gave me hope and reminded me that I would always have my grandmother in my heart.

One day it was all normal, my mom my brother and I were visiting them just as usual, there was my great uncle in the kitchen working on some lunch for us, and there was my amazing great aunt, being happy and full of joy and life as usual! She would be helping me with my spanish, and playing fun games with me as well. Then when she got alzheimer’s everything changed. She whispered and you could never hear her. All she was trying to do was try to remember who was who and what was what. She would walk around with sorrow in her eye’s and you could feel how much she was trying to do. I remember one day we were all out on the patio and then all of a sudden my great aunt started to cry, but the thing is we didn’t know what was wrong, my great uncle went up to her and tried to calm her down. Then he said, “She wants to know what is hers and what is not, she feels like she knows but she just can’t remember.”, I could see that my great uncle was trying to keep it happy, but I could feel the pain that he was going through, just imagine one of the people you love going through alzheimer’s and you can’t do anything absolutely anything except watch and hope. Although she had alzheimer’s, I still had hope for her, I knew that she wasn’t going to go anywhere... With this, I want to tell you how to help the people living with someone with

Whilst growing up in India, I had very few relatives that I often communed with, and after my move from the U.S to India I grew very fond of them. Around two years into my stay, my great uncle, who was our house neighbor at the time, had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and just 6 months in he found it difficult to understnd where he was, and about a year after that he had a lot of trouble identifying people without interacting with them, and over time became less and less interactive, and ceased to do any of his previous hobbies, such as tennis. I found it difficult to comprehend at the young age that he was suffering, and I understood it as he was simply getting old and forgetful. It was only two years ago that I came to the realization that he had Alzheimer’s. It had been a while since his passing, so it wasn’t crushing on my twelve year old self, but he was only 65, and I was always curious as to why his passing was somewhat early.

As I lay in bed, I kept thinking about the days where I would go visit her in the nursing home, only to open the door to her singing gospel songs with her wide grin filled with missing teeth or the times when we would stroll through the neighborhood on a hot day to find our special spot, where the shade protected us from the scorching hot sun and the wind blew slightly to cool down our burning cheeks. I finally looked out the window to see darkness, and like how the sun rises and falls so did her emotions and memories.

Between you and Dad leaving I was so heartbroken and lost... I still am. I still haven't forgiven Dad and if you actually read this I can see you shaking your head already, muttering under your breath about how stubborn I am. I like to imagine your eyes shining bright with life and happiness like they once used to. Your hair is still cropped short in my mind like it was when I saw you last. I wonder if you've let it grown out. I don't even know what my own brother looks like anymore and it kills me. We used to know each other like the back of our hands.

I walked into the hospice care building with my family excited to see my grandpa, who I hadn’t seen in a couple weeks. The building had a peaceful atmosphere, staffed with caring nurses. They had beautiful flowers planted outside and a kitchen filled with good food. The building had a weird feeling to it though. It had a certain distinct smell to it, similar to a nursing home or hospital. Though, the more I thought about my grandpa being there made me slowly get more and more upset. The last day I saw my grandfather was the day I realized, to be happy in life, I must accept everything that comes my way and make the most out of the life I was given.

My grandma was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in September of 2014. It began with her giving me birthday cards at Christmas, then to her forgetting who I am, and now to her body slowly losing its ability to react to outside stimuli. My grandma has always been a rock for our family. All family celebrations and holidays were held at her house. Once a year, she would invite all of the grandchildren over to help her pick her impressive garden, which I always looked forward too. She was one of the hardest working women I had ever met, and I have always admired her tremendously.

On Saturday January 31st 2015, it was very cold and rainy. We were having a birthday party for my daughter Azlynn. My grandma, Ida. Was able to visit from the nursing home. She had a stroke and it caused her to be paralyzed on the life side of her body. So she couldn’t care for herself like she use to.