New Member

Bluebird

Hi, I’ve been reading the different posts here for at least a year and decided to join in. My husband has Alzheimer’s and was diagnosed about 18 months ago but has had symptoms for 6-7 years.

charley0419

I’m just about in same place as you. This group does help

LJCHR

My DH is stage 4. I joined this forum March 2023 and it has been so helpful for me. The experience of the caregivers here is more than you can get from doctors and anyone else. Glad you joined, but sorry you had a reason to. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

debriesea

I, too, have been reading posts for about 6 months. My DH was diagnosed with ALZ a year ago, although symptoms started showing up about 6 years ago. He is stage 3 but dipping into 4.

ALZ runs strong in his family so I’m not surprised. We have been married 51 years, dating since High School. His profession was Civil Engineer but difficulty using numbers was the first indication that something was wrong.

This site has been great for the realization of what lies ahead. It has brought such comfort to me, especially all the care and support by others here

I am blessed to have amazing support from our kids and close friends. We live across the driveway from our daughter and my son lives 10 min away. Their first concern is for my well being.

Thank you everyone here. This is truly a special family.

Davegrant

Welcome to all new members. This has been a daily support for me during the last seven years. It has met all my expectations, and the journey is doable but very challenging, at least this has been my experience. My wife has Dementia of the Alzheimer's type and anosognosia. Her progression has been slow and hard for me to understand but I followed the lead of others and that has sustained me emotionally and in planning the future, One Day at a Time.

Dave

Windsock

Well, this is a post for those of us that are new here to the forum. I’ve only been on for a month but I’m so thankful for you all! I too have seen us shy away from getting together with friends. Usually it’s my DW that doesn’t want to go but sometimes it’s me. Partly because of our lives being so different but also because I kinda resent the friends that have dropped away because of my DW’s diagnosis of MCI 8 years ago. And we aren’t nearly as far along in this journey as so many others on this forum. DW has so much trouble with short term memory but knows all the family members. She dresses herself and bathes herself but can’t follow a recipe and loads the dishwasher incorrectly. She still drives if I’m with her but that will probably soon be over. She is an RN but takes 10 minutes to give herself a laxative, reading the bottle over and over and measuring it out. I get to go for a run every other day , leaving the house for at most an hour and a half as long as I text her at least every 15 minutes about what I’m out doing. She is angry with me if she doesn’t look at the texts………when I get back. She hasn’t finished reading a book in probably 8 years. I’m sharing our situation to say a couple of things. After being on this forum and hearing what others are experiencing, I intend for us to enjoy this period of our lives, I appreciate more what we have now. But I also realize what is probably ahead and with advice from you all I’m planning for that future in a more practical way. I also feel guilt. That our situation isn’t so bad and yet I at times resent what we have been given for these retirement years. That I long so much to go for a solo 5 day backpacking trip but there is no way that’s going to happen.

Once again in this Thanksgiving season, my DW and I have so very much to be thankful for and one of those things I’m grateful for are the friends here on this site sharing their lives.

toolbeltexpert

Welcome Bluebird this is the place to be no matter where you are in the dementia journey. One thing try to find those things you can still do together there are still days ahead to be enjoyed while you can even in the late stages those things will bring joy to you both.

To all of you that just joined welcome hope you all had a good Thanksgiving.

JillianFrances

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/189382#Comment_189382

My DH has been on Aricept for about 5 years and just 6 months ago the doctor used the word Alzheimers to describe his illness vs MCI. Although we knew this was coming it still ws such a heartbreak. He is stage 4 and some crossover to stage 5. I still feel like I have so much to learn.