Snow Day, March 15 2017

We, my two daughters and a friend and myself, have been away in Montego Bay, Jamaica, had a wonderful time.   Now we are back, and I'm back visiting and helping my friend's mom., Alma   Alma has Alzheimer's although it is advanced enough that she has to be in a residence with others with that dread disease..she can take part in an Art program.  This has been great therapy for her and also for me.  The various art activities, are fun, and although she never wants to participate somehow I always manage to draw her in, and in the end she usually is quite happy about her work, and although she compliments whatever project she has done, she always wonders who made it.. When I say Alma you did that painting, drawing, or art object, she always answers, "Well no dear, that was not done by me". I'd finally convince her that it was certainly her work, and it is lovely. "Oh my, she said,I did that well I don't remember"....I guess in the end she forgets that she did all those things, but while doing it, life is fine.

And so it goes, I'm still involved with the Alzheimer's Disease in a different way. But it is somehow a way of keeping Mac and his illness in my life...I get a satisfaction out of using the skills I learned over the eight years that we were involved in that awful disease.  This way when  I think, as I   aften do of Mac,  it was two years on March 10 the anniversary of his death, I dedicate my work and thoughts to him.  Although Alma does not have the same affiliation for me as Mac did, she seems to really like me and we do have a lovely time together.  

 In my last blog I mentioned I have a new man in my life.  Strangely enough we met in Church, I won't mention his name, but he came to church just after his  wife a died.  He wanted to be quietly in a corner and quite by accident he sat in the seat where I would put Mac as Mac not being  church goer wanted to be well out of the way.  I had brought Mac there so that he would be in the last row and well away in a kind of corner.   This man's wife had died, and I guess he thought going back to his old church might help him cope with his grief.  So there we were sitting together in the last pew...I noticed like myself he was not too familiar with the set up.  In fact he would look in the prayer book when we sang hymns and in the hymn book when we were doing the prayers, I ended up helping him in the books, and he ended up helping me, by driving me home.

He has become the volunteer for the volunteer,(ME)  He drives me every week to be with Alma and picks me up after the session.  He comes in at times to join us for a cup of tea and cookies, but like many people this is not something he would do on a regular basis.  To be with Alzheimer's patients takes some getting used to...especially when many of these patients are there with outspoken and various strange ways.. There is one who often says she will kill a person, and of course this is unpleasant, luckily Alma is quiet and unassuming but at times she does have to be on pills to help to quiet her down.- how this might happen is that the patient becomes disorientated  and frustrated.

So although life is not in the same lane as with Mac,it is a part of my life that I can't forget, and so I'm going to be blogging about Alma..and hopefully this will help others who have the disease