What I would do to have my Mom be confused about scissors just one more time. My Mom has continued the downward spiral that is Alzheimer's Disease. For those who don't know, my Mom was officially diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's when she was 55 years old. I say "officially" because the warning signs were already there. In fact, they were there in her 40's.
A common question I get is "what was happening to your Mom to have her seen?" My answer is always "she was confused." My Dad had called me one afternoon and asked if I was driving. He urged me to pull over and I could tell my Dad was holding something in that would make him break if he uttered it. "Your Mom had a hard day today and it seems that she has Alzheimer's," he said. My heart sank. I asked "what happened?" "We went in for a cognitive test because we were worried that a change was happening that your Mom couldn't explain." During the exam, the doctor asked my Mom "what are red, blue, orange, green, yellow, pink, etc?" It took my Mom an uncomfortable amount of time to say "colors."
A week later, my Dad told me about a moment he had with my Mom the week before. My Mom was a home economics teacher in the early part of her teaching career. My Mom loved to craft, sew, make and create. "David, where are the cutting things?" "A knife? Is that what you need?" "No. The cutting things, the triangle cutting things." "Oh, scissors" he replied. To some, this seems harmless but this is more common than you might think. It's the confusion that is most alarming. We are conditioned from a young age to know, colors, scissors, the basics in life.
If you think your family member might be struggling, I urge you to seek information.
If you'd like to help fund the research to find a cure, donate to my team, Dayl's Kids
Photo: Spencer Graves