Haylee Callison Callison 1

Caruso: UWRT 1103-006

04/10/2017

Alzheimers is a very complex disease to the point where to this day and time, no one can

fully unravel everything about itknows a guaranteed cure for it. There are so many ways to look

at this disease and everything that comes with it. T Since there is no cure for Alzheimers

disease, the emotional toll is tremendous on families when knowing that the person diagnosed

with this disease is only going to decrease in health, both mentally and physically. According to

Alzheimer Society of Canada, the three common feeling families tend to experience are guilt,

grief and loss, and anger (Impact on family and friends, para. 1). From researching possible

cures of Alzheimers disease, it led me to want to figure out the stages of Alzheimers and how it

affected the people, emotionally and also physicallyin an emotional and physical way, close to

the person diagnosed.

I thought the best way to convey how a person would feel about someone diagnosed with

Alzheimers disease would be to create a diary. Having a diary would let people in to directly

see how a person would feel in this horrible situation. I wanted to show the emotional

path/journey the daughter and her mother with Alzheimers would take. This diary would help

inform those who have no knowledge about Alzheimers to inform help them understand them of

how it occurshappens. The diary would also help those whose family member has just been

diagnosed and what to expect along the way with both the person affected and the family. In the

diary, it starts offThe diary begins with the daughter not really knowing her mom has

Alzheimers. From there, I write how the disease progresses and the emotions the daughter feels

and actions she sees her mom execute but does not nt understand but wants to understand fully

understand even though she wants to so badly. Any type of bookstore would be a placeideal for
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the diary to be published and available for anyone who wanted to read it since it is a fictional

account of what could happen with a family when someone close to them areis diagnosed with

Alzheimers. The diary is a great example of the emotional toll on a family about actions her

mother has done that has affected her emotionally. The journal has purple accents and the

writing is in a purple ink because that is the color that represents Alzheimers which was shown

on the Alzheimers Association website.

Alzheimers approaches quickly to a family and no one really suspects it, and it worsens

from that point on. There are many stages of Alzheimers disease, the three main stages that will

be discussed are known as mild, moderate, and severe. In the mild stage, For a while the person

has no problems that can be recognized by the family or a medical professional for a period of

time. The person may not be able to come up with a word or name, but does not seem unusual to

family to where they would see a reason for a problem. This is shown in the diary when the

mother and daughter see someone from their church and the mother cannot recall their name, but

the daughter puts it off as something to not worry too much about. The moderate stage is

wWhen families start noticing that there is a problem and something needs to be done is when

the family member cannot recall things like something they have just read. They also may not be

able to remember their personal history and other information or may start wandering out of their

house and not even remember they have done so. The diary mentions the mother forgetting her

personal history when at a family get-together the daughter asks her mom what high school she

went to and the mother cannot seem to recall it, which is something that should not be easily

forgotten. The disease turns into the severe stage wWhen the person starts to become confused

with their days, the time, or not being able to recall everyday things about their lives is when it

moves on to the fifth stage. They will need assistance with daily everyday activities that take
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place in their lives, t. The next stage is when the person does not attain their short-term memory

hardly at all and sometimes forgets names of those close to them. They do not really respond to

anything around them and mostly lose the ability to speak and will need help with their hygienice

needs. Also, their physical abilities will change which includes walking, sitting/standing, and

eventually swallowing (Stages of Alzheimers & Symptoms, para. 2). These types of actions are

mentioned in the diary with how her mother has her days and nights mixed up and she cannot

hardly speak at all. The daughter then realizes that the mom most likely does not know who she

is. Also, their physical abilities will change which includes walking, sitting/standing, and

eventually swallowing (Stages of Alzheimers & Symptoms). This completes how Alzheimers

takes over a person in many aspects and and it is shown in the diary of how it progresses with

time.

Alzheimers disease is tested in many ways, with some tests being simple and others

being elaborate. In the diary, it is mentioned that a mini-cog test was used to test the disease. It

This is a test where, [First,]In the first part, the patient is given a list of three common objects.

Several minutes later, the doctor asks them to repeat the list. For the second part, the doctor asks

the patient to draw a clock face with the numbers one to 12 in their correct places. The test taker

is then asked to draw hands on the clock to show the time selected by the examiner (Godman,

How Does a Doctor Test for Alzheimers Diseaseslide 4?). There are many other tests that factor

in testing Alzheimers like doing a neurological exam where the doctor tests your reflexes,

speech, and other actions. They can also do an MRI or and a PET Scan to look at the brain and

make sure there are no other causes to the disease (Godman, slide 7). How Does a Doctor Test

for Alzheimers Disease?). An MRI is helpful because it can show brain changes that could be
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linked to the disease to help and see how the disease came about in a certain person (Senelick,

para. 2)(Alzheimers Disease: How Its Diagnosed).

A family members life totally changes for the period that they may have to become the

family members personal care taker of someone who is diagnosed with Alzheimers Disease.

As mMentioned before, the person acting as the caretaker or the one close to the person with

Alzheimers disease experiences a variety of emotions as the disease progresses. AIn the diary, a

few of these emotions are conveyed by the daughter within the diary. The Alzheimer Society of

Canada states, If the person with dementia goes into hospital or residential care you may feel

guilty that you have not kept him at home for longer, even though everything that could be done

has been done (Impact on family and friends, para. 2). The daughter experiences guilt when

knowing that she cannot take care of her mom anymore and must put her in a nursing home,

which was her last resort. Also, she felt guilty with not getting to ask ever thinking of asking her

mom to tell her more stories about her past when her mind was sharp. Another emotion that was

exhibited shown was anger. The daughter felt anger when she started to see that the family was

not giving her any help with her mom when she needed them the most. The last emotion that

was shown was grief and loss. The Alzheimer Society of Canada states, Grief is a response to

losswe are faced with the loss of a person we used to know and the loss of a relationship

(Impact on family and friends, para.3 ). The daughter shows this when she is faced to begin

picking out her clothes for her mom because she does notnt care what she looks like anymore

and does not correlate the weather with various articles of clothing. The end of the diary also

shows this when the daughter realizes that her mom probably does not nt know who the

daughter is anymore since she could not even communicate with her.
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Alzheimers disease is a complex disease and I know without a doubt that studies for this

disease will be continued until there is some type of cure is found. Alzheimers has touched

many families and peoples lives and as devastating as this disease is, we can only hope there

will be a waycure to end this horrible sickness that takes away the minds of loved ones.
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References

Godman, Heidi. How Does a Doctor Test for Alzheimers Disease? Healthline, Healthline

Media, www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/alzheimers-test. Accessed 4 Apr. 2017.

Impact on Family and Friends. Impact on Family and Friends , Alzheimer Society of Canada,

4 Oct. 14ADAD, www.alzheimer.ca/en/Living-with-dementia/Staying-connected/How-

relationships-change/Impact-of-the-disease/Family-and-friends. Accessed 31 Mar. 2017.

Senelick, Richard, editor. Alzheimer's Disease: How It's Diagnosed. WebMD, WebMD, 2015,

www.webmd.com/alzheimers/guide/making-diagnosis-tests#2. Accessed 8 Apr. 2017.

Stages of Alzheimer's & Symptoms. Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's Association,

www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_stages_of_alzheimers.asp. Accessed 1 Apr. 2017.

Godman, Heidi. How Does a Doctor Test for Alzheimers Disease? Healthline,

Healthline Media, www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/alzheimers-test. Accessed 4 Apr. 2017.

Senelick, Richard, editor. Alzheimer's Disease: How It's Diagnosed. WebMD, WebMD, 2015,

www.webmd.com/alzheimers/guide/making-diagnosis-tests#2. Accessed 8 Apr. 2017.