I'm getting to the point I can't discern normal from not. My husband's brother asked him what the website was for my husband's company. He said, I have to turn on my laptop, & it takes a long time to get it up & running, and kept apologizing to his brother that it was taking so long. The company name is simple, so it would have been www.simplecompanyname.com. He finally got to the website & gave it to his brother. His business cards are sitting right there on his desk with the website on them! All he had to do was look at his business card, or simply remember the company name. I always think I'm overreacting, so now I want to know if anyone else thinks this is normal or not.
Val, bad news is yes, his going a round about route to get an answer is very normal for the disease. Things that seem so simple to a "normal" person just aren't that way for them anymore.
It has helped me understand the disease to think of the brain like a maze. There are many paths through the maze to get to specific thoughts. However, the plaques and tangles of Alzheimers start to block the paths so thoughts either cannot be retrieved or the answers are somewhat convoluted. The end result is that they cannot think and reason the way they once did. The confusing part of this is that in the beginning they often come back with the right answers but as time goes on you hit a point where you never know if they will come back with the right answer or one that is totally off the wall.
Alzheimer's starts with taking recent memories and as they are in the "forefront" of the brain, the paths through the maze to those thoughts are usually blocked first.
The good news is that you are not really overreacting. You are just acting and feeling like a normal person does trying to figure out what is going on in their heads. The list for us caregivers starts with frustration, scared, confused, angry - you can continue to add to that one.
The above is the very unscientific view but as I am a pictorial person, it works for me.
Good analogy therrja . And no Val you aren't over reacting. Jut recently my DH and I went on a weekend trip. He forgot his wristwatch.And he mentioned repeatedly that now he wasn't going to know the time. I tried to reassure him that he had his cell phone clipped to his belt and all he needed to do was look at it. Each time I told him he told me that was great....He didn't know that cell phones had clocks!!! But not once all weekend did he ever look at his cell phone (no matter how many time I reminded him). He remembered not having a watch and he constantly was checking with me and others as to the time. They simply do not have the capacity to retain some information. I think everyone here will tell you how really hard it is when you have to accept that our loved ones now have a truly diminished capacity..
Thanks!! Very good explanation & example. I guess it's normal for me to second guess myself. Some things are so way out there, that I know there's something wrong. But in the small day to day things, I often wonder. Like, why did he put the toilet seat down for 10 years & now he never does. Thanks for the feedback, I just don't know anymore what's going on. So what you said made sense, & I will have to take that at face value & realize it is not normal. I'm not trying to "look" for things, it's just when they come up, I do wonder if anyone other than myself would think something is not normal.