The Gift of Alzheimer's Blog
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The Gift of Alzheimers book is trailblazing, bringing insight and understanding to Alzheimer's and shedding new light on this devastating disease.
The Gift of Alzheimer's Blog
2y ago
This blog explores the issues raised by the book, The Gift of Alzheimer’s, by Maggie La Tourelle. The book documents a heart and soul journey with my mother who had Alzheimer’s. It deals with the vicissitudes of Alzheimer’s, seeks meaning in the language and demonstrates the healing power of love.
Relevant comments are welcome, see below.
The post Blog Introduction appeared first on The Gift of Alzheimer's ..read more
The Gift of Alzheimer's Blog
3y ago
Blog 31
It’s Valentine’s Day and our thoughts are focused on the subject of love.
Bunches of red roses and bigger and more elaborate cards abound – for that special person, the one you love.
Not everyone is going to be the recipient of such Valentines Day gifts so let’s broaden our focus to unconditional love, the kind of love that is not dependent on romance and is freely available to all.
The Golden Rule says, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’.
I imagine we all want to be loved unconditionally.
But can we really love someone else if we don’t love yourselves?
So how ..read more
The Gift of Alzheimer's Blog
3y ago
Blog 30
Alzheimer’s – 10 Things You Need to Know
‘You talk to me. Nobody else talks to me.’ Pat (my mum)
My mother Pat had Alzheimer’s and she taught me the ten things we need to know. I’ve quoted her to demonstrate these points.
Alzheimer’s dementia clarification:
There is a lot of confusion between the terms ‘Alzheimer’s’ and ‘dementia’. There are over a hundred different types of dementia and Alzheimer’s is one type. However it accounts for between 60% and 80% of all dementias and is the most feared. Further more, within the category of Alzheimer’s there are many variations.
‘I have ..read more
The Gift of Alzheimer's Blog
3y ago
Blog 29
My mother delivered this message about immortality with a voice of absolute authority and insisted I tell others. She had been a very anxious person all her life and like most people had feared death. But to my amazement when she had late-stage Alzheimer’s everything changed. She said, “I have no worries or fear … death is nothing to be afraid of.” Knowing this she was able to face her own death fearlessly and even anticipate her life beyond.
So how did she do this? And how did she know she was immortal? She hadn’t been particularly religious and had had her fair share of troubles in ..read more
The Gift of Alzheimer's Blog
3y ago
Blog 28
“Love is what it is.” Mum
“The stillness of deep love, I can’t find words to describe it.” “I love everyone.” “Love is what it is.” “Love never dies.”
These are just some of the things my mother told me about love when she had Alzheimer’s. As Valentine’s Day approaches I am aware of the gulf between my mother’s kind of love and the commercialization of love conveyed in the many trappings that surround us: larger and larger cards, bunches of identical red roses that have no perfume etc..
Reflecting on the love I discovered people with Alzheimer’s can experience, and reviewi ..read more
The Gift of Alzheimer's Blog
3y ago
Blog 27
Loving Christmas
Helen Keller, a deaf and blind American author said, ‘The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart’. Christmas provides us with a special time when we can touch people’s hearts. The way we do this is not so much by what we give but more importantly how we give, and how we receive. When my mother had advanced Alzheimer’s she felt with her heart and our gifts to each other were through the feelings in our hearts. She emphasised the importance of feeling when she said to me, ‘These are wonderful moments ..read more
The Gift of Alzheimer's Blog
3y ago
Blog 26
We live, we die and then what?
As golden and russet leaves flutter softly down and settle on the ground I find myself contemplating their cycle and the cycles of life. We live, we die and then what? Depressed? No. Why? Because I am blessed to have been witness to my elderly mother’s extraordinary sojourns into the Other World. She told me, with a voice of absolute authority, ‘We’re learning we’re immortal. Death is nothing to be afraid of. I have no worries, no fear’. This was followed by, ‘You must tell others’. So this is what I am doing now.
Were my mother’s proclamations just thos ..read more
The Gift of Alzheimer's Blog
3y ago
Blog 31
It’s Valentine’s Day and our thoughts are focused on the subject of love.
Bunches of red roses and bigger and more elaborate cards abound – for that special person, the one you love.
Not everyone is going to be the recipient of such Valentines Day gifts so let’s broaden our focus to unconditional love, the kind of love that is not dependent on romance and is freely available to all.
The Golden Rule says, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’.
I imagine we all want to be loved unconditionally.
But can we really love someone else if we don’t love yourselves?
So how ..read more
The Gift of Alzheimer's Blog
3y ago
Blog 25
Many Happy Remembrances
In celebration of World Alzheimer’s Month – Remember Me, I am posting a collection of memorable things my mother said. They are mainly her words, not mine. I found them inspiring and I hope you will too. It shows that, far from Alzheimer’s being totally negative, people with the disease can give us hope, comfort and teach us the things that are really important.
‘These are wonderful moments. Remember them and feel them.’
‘I want you to remember the good times.’
‘I know my thoughts are clear. I am confused when I can’t remember.’
‘There are so many things to rem ..read more
The Gift of Alzheimer's Blog
3y ago
Blog 30
Alzheimer’s – 10 Things You Need to Know
‘You talk to me. Nobody else talks to me.’ Pat (my mum)
My mother Pat had Alzheimer’s and she taught me the ten things we need to know. I’ve quoted her to demonstrate these points.
Alzheimer’s dementia clarification:
There is a lot of confusion between the terms ‘Alzheimer’s’ and ‘dementia’. There are over a hundred different types of dementia and Alzheimer’s is one type. However it accounts for between 60% and 80% of all dementias and is the most feared. Further more, within the category of Alzheimer’s there are many variations.
‘I have ..read more