Jan. 2012

I should have started this last year,but like everything in my life right now I am always trying to catch up.  This is going to be about the love I have for my dear sweet Sister Alice.  The Alice in Wonderland is what she would always call herself when she would talk to my grand kids and even others.  So how appropriate is the name Alice in Wonderland.

Alice was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2009.  I knew there was problems before, but just thought she was getting more and more forgetful due to age.  I mean I forget and always have.  I kept noticing and so did my children Tracy and Daniela because they would call me and say they talked to Aunt Alice and she sure keeps repeating herself.

No one wants to believe that one of their loved ones has this awful life changing disease.  Her husband and son had an even harder time seeing this and wanted to believe it was just forgetfulness and if she worked hard at trying to remember she would be able to do that.  If we had known about it much earlier doing things to help the memory may have been more helpful in slowing it down, but not stop it.

So now I am just going to tell you about my sister before Alzheimer's struck.  Alice in a loving caring caretaker.  If you were sick she was right by your side.  If you just wanted to talk she was there.  If you wanted to have a good time and laugh your head off she could do that for you.  Alice was married and had her children.  Then she divorced and remarried about 25 years ago to her husband Irv.  She loved him dearly and he showed her how a wife, mother and friend should be treated.  Marriage is not always perfect, but Irv is her life.

When I was at the doctor with her the second time after she had been diagnosed the doctor said she was in the middle of the scale.  They have a scale of 1 through 30 and she was a 15.  She was on a medication and they started her on a second one to hopefully slow down the dementia.   She seemed to holding pretty well until she fell and broke her hip.  From then on she took a nose dive and I guess another plato. 

I know I have to keep good times in the four front.  The memories we are making now are different, but when we laugh and smile and talk I hold them in my heart.  She will talk about things I have forgotten .  She has good days and then their are those bad days.  You know how we put our kids in Time Out when they needed it?  Well I use Time Out for myself when Alice's mood changes to leave her site for a while knowing she will forget and be fine and like me again when I come out of of my Time Out.

I hope the pages I add to my Blog will help me and my family understand and even share .  I hope others also may read this and help them or even offer suggestions to stay calm, loving and strong.

I hope to share sad times, but mostly hope to share things that go on with my sister that will also put a smile on you face. 

The littlest things makes her happy.  CHOCOLATE!!!!!!    I always try and bring chocolate when I go out to be with her.  The funny is Wow this is good.  I have never eaten this before.  If it anything other than a Hershey Bar.

What ever God has planned for Alice I pray to understand and at peace with it.