While sitting in class learning about children, we started talking about something that related to Charlie and his early onset. The books I have read talk about long term and short term memory and how Alzheimer's takes over them. What they don't talk about is the 'working memory' which is remembering what you are doing at that very moment that you are doing it. For example when you walk into a room and forget why you went in there.
While talking in terms of children with learning disabilities, my teacher gave of an example of what this would look like when doing a math problem. When given the problem (4+5)x 2 the child will look at 4+5 and then figure out 4+5=9. Well by the time they get to the x2 part they forget all about the 9. Hearing this I instantly thought about Charlie. If mama asks him to take a basket to the basement he can remember that he has to go to the basement by he doesn't know why. Or vice versa he picks up the basket and doesn't know where to go. Before I thought that his short term memory is pretty bad and although it is getting that way, I think what is actually happening is that his working memory is fading fast.
On top of that, Charlie has a very difficult time focusing on anything. Mama will try to talk to him or get him to look at her and its such a big effort. Getting him to focus on anything is a big ordeal. It doesn't help that he is half deaf either. A lot of the time he will sit in front of the t.v. but he isn't actually watching it. I tried to pay attention to see if he was watching the musical we saw yesterday but it was hard to tell. I didn't really hear him laughing or show any sign that he was paying attention but then again he doesn't have much reaction to a lot of thing so I couldn't really tell.
Thats all I got for now.
Kels
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
May 5, 2010
Grandma got here today! We're all excited about it :)Mama went to her monthly Alzheimer's meeting tonight while me, sissy, and grandma stayed to hang out with Charlie. We had a slightly nerve racking moment, at least for me, tonight. Instead of walking around the yard Charlie walked down the street and back. Everything was okay of course but it makes me nervous all the same.
He was also very agitated today. He didn't want to sit and relax at all he just kept moving and pacing. Finally he decided to walk on the treadmill which seemed to help to get him to relax after about 10 minutes and a popsicle. We watched a funny show and then Air Force One, a classic, to help brighten Charlie's spirits which gets harder everyday. Grandma is good for doing that too, of course she helps make us all feel more relaxed. :) Well that's all for now. Goodnight.
Kels
He was also very agitated today. He didn't want to sit and relax at all he just kept moving and pacing. Finally he decided to walk on the treadmill which seemed to help to get him to relax after about 10 minutes and a popsicle. We watched a funny show and then Air Force One, a classic, to help brighten Charlie's spirits which gets harder everyday. Grandma is good for doing that too, of course she helps make us all feel more relaxed. :) Well that's all for now. Goodnight.
Kels
May 5, 2010 Introduction
Alzheimer's disease SUCKS. Period. End of discussion.
My step-dad, Charlie, was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's 5 years ago at the age of 60, not long after a heart attack and mini strokes. Early Onset is Alzheimer's that is diagnosed under the at of 65. It tends to progress quicker and can be genetic. Charlie has slowly been declining and things tend to get worse gradually rather than all at once. Well that's how it was until about 2 months ago. Charlie very suddenly couldn't swallow meaning he couldn't eat. Well this all came at the same time we took a vacation to Florida to visit family which vacation is usually difficult anyway. Things got worse and Charlie lost a lot of weight so when we got back home he had to get a feeding tube.
Since then things have gotten slowly better and back to 'normal' although Charlie can't be left alone now along with other new things. He is a lot more disoriented and short term memory is pretty much shot. My mom has taken most the rest of the school year off except for the last two weeks, the next two weeks, so my grandma has come up to stay with Charlie while my mom is back to work. We'll see how things go without mama around.
Kels
My step-dad, Charlie, was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's 5 years ago at the age of 60, not long after a heart attack and mini strokes. Early Onset is Alzheimer's that is diagnosed under the at of 65. It tends to progress quicker and can be genetic. Charlie has slowly been declining and things tend to get worse gradually rather than all at once. Well that's how it was until about 2 months ago. Charlie very suddenly couldn't swallow meaning he couldn't eat. Well this all came at the same time we took a vacation to Florida to visit family which vacation is usually difficult anyway. Things got worse and Charlie lost a lot of weight so when we got back home he had to get a feeding tube.
Since then things have gotten slowly better and back to 'normal' although Charlie can't be left alone now along with other new things. He is a lot more disoriented and short term memory is pretty much shot. My mom has taken most the rest of the school year off except for the last two weeks, the next two weeks, so my grandma has come up to stay with Charlie while my mom is back to work. We'll see how things go without mama around.
Kels
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