by John Aves

Created on: August 28, 2010

Two years ago my wife began to complain that I was forgetting a lot of things that she told me or that I otherwise should have known.  It was a time of very great stress for us both, as the economy was declining and our little business was losing money by the bucket-full. We are both in our late 60's and we have three married daughters and seven grandchildren.

We had visited a psychologist to help us deal with the stress of our money issues. I asked him about my wife's concern with my memory and so he gave me a short 30 minute test which I passed satisfactorily. A year later my wife was still concerned that I was not remembering things nearly as well as I should, and she felt that I might be showing other signs of Alzheimer's disease. She insisted that I take a more thorough examination through a doctor friend of ours who was a specialist in gerontology. This time I was given an exhaustive series of physiological and mental tests. The mental screening tests were conducted by a  specialist over a period of three long days. In the final summary meeting with our gerontologist she declared that she was 98 percent certain that I had Alzheimer's. It was a very sad moment.

Our doctor immediately prescribed two specific Alzheimer's medications plus some special vitamins and an anti-depressant. She also referred us to another doctor at the University of Michigan in a department specializing in dementia. The purpose was to get some confirmation and to explore any special opportunities that might arise with new drug therapies.  We pursued this connection, which further confirmed the diagnosis. This doctor said that I would probably not see much change in my condition  for two years. That was one year ago.

My wife made contact with the local Alzheimers Association in our hometown.  They were beginning a series of seminars which we attended. It was then that I realized the speakers were not addressing any of the few alzheimers  patients in the room. I asked if there would be any interaction with patients and the organizers avoided a response. Later I emailed the association and was again rebuffed and ignored.

The Alzheimer's Association presenters discussed caregiver issues, legal issues and financial issues. The  big hurdle we discovered was the cost of specialized full time care I might need at some future time. Naturally the financial and legal issues were of primary interest to most of the caregivers.

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