Last week there was a big-to-do about former Supreme Court justice, Sandra Day O’Conner’s husband John O’Conner, and his love affair with another woman. One of the articles I read on this topic, posted on CNN.com and titled “Son: O’Connor not jealous of …
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Now that was really interesting. I definitely had the impression that the Alzheimer patient lost memories and replaced them with nothing; or rather did not replace them. So they can “start anew”, huh?
Besides being fascinated, I don’t know whether to feel pleased or horrified. Pleased when I try to imagine the inner world of the patient; horrified when I imagine what it’s like to be, say, the replaced spouse.
I go and see my Dad in the Alzheimer’s ward at the local hospital every second day here in Scotland.
I don’t find the above article suprising. It is obvious to the dedicated nurses and the regular family visitors that the patient’s world collapses and emotions become detached and attached elsewhere.
Many of the patients have created an emotional bond with me because I am a regular visitor. They obviously therefore can become more emotionally attached to the other patients and nurses.
Specialists that write about Alzheimer’s appear to me to be removed from day-to-day contact with patients and nurses that they feel this is newsworthy?
That is surely of concern, and leads me to postulate that there are probably obvious improvements in care waiting to be ‘discovered’ with more ‘hands-on’ and ‘listening’ research.
My personal observation suggests that my father is observing all this from the other side of the mental abstractions that formulate our world. In other words, his consciousness remains intact and I can interact with him at that level and he clearly is relieved that someone understands his world and engages with me with enthusistic nods and approving gestures rather than treating him as an Alzheimer’s patient.