Tuesday, December 18, 2012

How I Stopped My Mother from Being Mean to Me

Alzheimer's World is a wild, sometimes crazy, and backwards place. In Alzheimer's World words from an Alzheimer's patient are often a cry for help. Many times what an Alzheimer's patient says is exactly the opposite of what they mean.


How I  Stopped My Mother from Being Mean to Me
Does this person look mean to you?
Dotty
The list of difficult behaviors that Alzheimer's patients express in the mid stage of the disease are long, and sometimes never ending. 

I couldn't possibly list all of the mean and nutty behaviors my mother, Dotty, engaged in in those first few years of our life together with Alzheimer's. The list is just to long.

For this article I am going to focus in on one mean behavior: when my mother repeatedly told me to get out, she didn't need me, and she could take care of herself.

Many of you can probably imagine what it feels like when a person living with dementia tells you - "I don't need you, get out". Or, says something even worse than that.

So there I was. I had dropped out of the world to care for my mother, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Could she have said anything meaner, "I don't need you, get out."

It hurt.