Today when I spoke to my mom I asked her if she'd like to spell to help stimulate her mind. Mom answered okay and I proceeded to give her some of the following words to spell ; sensation,perspiration,company,sensitive,aggressive,exposure and with a second she spelt almost every word correctly.Everytime she does this I wonder how she does it.My brother says that it is different parts of the brain that is used and.I say, it takes a memory to be able to do that. Fo my mom this seems to be the only real memory she has.
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RUTHIE THE SPELLING QUEEN
Elaine tells me how different my mom is from other Alzheimer’s patients that she has taken care of through the years. She says that mom is so funny, and sweet. She tells me that her experience of a lot of Alzheimer patients is that they become angry and frustrated. Not my mom, so again I am so thankful. My mom has become a delight. I actually look forward to calling her. She makes me laugh and smile no matter what my mood might be. Since she will not remember what I say I sometimes share with her when I am feeling upset or down and she always has words of wisdom and life lessons to share with me. She is so amazing. She makes me laugh and she sings me little snippets of songs. And you should see how she can spell. She’s the spelling queen of Florida. Give her a word to spell and in two seconds flat she spells it. I wonder how this can be. It takes a memory to be able to spell and she doesn’t even write anything down. The mind I find is so fascinating and at the very same time my mom has no idea what time it is or what day it is, and to her it does not really matter.
Sometimes when I speak to her she sounds so sharp and I can at moments even talk to her about something that is bothering me and her awareness and answers are so right on.The women who still can give me advice and yet she doesn’t remember that I called her the second I hang up.
I listen to the same recent stories from her over and over again just happy that she still has some memory.
I asked my mom today when she could not remember what she ate(even if she did not eat) and not remembering seeing my brother yesterday “mom is it scary to you that you don’t remember anything?” her answer to me is “no it’s not scary because I know that whatever happened yesterday I’m sure it was very nice “It wasn’t so long ago she would tell me that she had a very good memory(while she couldn’t even remember how old she was or when my birthday was)and I just say okay mom and smile to myself.
I miss her and also cherish every second that I still do have with her. Mom I dedicate this book(or blog) to you and all the other people and their families that are struggling with this disease called Dementia/Alzheimer’s. My mom has become my hero. I love her so much and hope that she’ll never forget that ,as she slowly fades away.
My grandmother had a great mind until her death at age 97 and 10 months. She was in a nursing home because of her broken hip and she refused to live with us any longer as she felt she was a burden to our family. But she was runner up in the nursing home spelling bee, and actually won the Miss Vivian's Nursing Home title at about age 90. My Mom can't remember the sentence she just said and will repeat it again, but ask her anything that happened 10 years ago or longer and she remembers it. It's no scarey, because she still has her same personality she just has short term memory and can't remember what happened in the past few years, days, hours, etc. I can't call my mom and talk everyday as she is hard of hearing and it becomes a shouting match, but I go to see her every 2 or 3 days.
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