Haylee Callison 1

UWRT 1103-006
04/10/2017

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

knows a guaranteed cure for it. There are so many ways to look at this disease and everything

that comes with it. 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). 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 physically, 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

those who have no knowledge about Alzheimers to inform them of how it happens. The diary

would also help those whose family member has just been diagnosed and what to expect along

the way with both the person and the family. In the diary, it starts off 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 doesnt understand but wants to understand so

badly. Any type of bookstore would be a place for 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 is 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
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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. For a while the person has no

problems that can be recognized by the family or a medical professional. 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. When 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. When the

person starts to become confused with 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 everyday

activities that take place in their lives. 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 need help

with hygiene needs. 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 and it is shown in the diary of how it progresses.

Alzheimers disease is tested in many ways. In the diary, it is mentioned that a mini-cog

test was used to test the disease. It is a test where, 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
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by the examiner (Godman, How Does a Doctor Test for Alzheimers Disease?). 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 and a PET Scan

to look at the brain and make sure there are no other causes to the disease (Godman, How Does a

Doctor Test for Alzheimers Disease?). An MRI is helpful because it can show brain changes

that could be linked to the disease to help and see how the disease came about in a certain person

(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.

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

Alzheimers disease experiences a variety of emotions. In the diary, a few of these emotions are

conveyed by the daughter. 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). The daughter experiences guilt when knowing that she cannot take care of her

mom anymore and must put her in a nursing home. Also, she felt guilty with not ever thinking

of asking her mom to tell more stories about her past when her mind was sharp. Another

emotion that was 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). The daughter shows this when she is faced to

begin picking out her clothes for her mom because she doesnt care what she looks like anymore.
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The end of the diary also shows this when the daughter realizes that her mom probably doesnt

know who the daughter is anymore since she could not even communicate with her.

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 found. Alzheimers has touched many

families and peoples lives and as devastating as this disease is, we can only hope there will be a

cure to end this horrible sickness that takes away the minds of loved ones.
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References

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.

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.