Forgetting Herself
Think about your preferences.
Think about how you like your favorite meal. Is it a sandwich, soup or pasta? Is it curry? Is your favorite meal a burger made a certain way? What about what you like to drink? Do you prefer tea, water, juice or coffee? Do you like milk or an alcoholic beverage?
Think about how you tend to your daily hygiene tasks. Do you bathe at night to relax before bed? Do you shower in the morning to wake up and get your day going? Do you brush your teeth before you dress in the morning or after?
Do you even think about what you like or how you prefer to execute your day? Probably not. I know I hardly have to think twice about what I like. If I have tasted something before, I am pretty sure of my like or dislike for it. If I like something, I don't suddenly dislike it one day or forget that I liked it a week or month ago. Then again, I don't have Alzheimer's.
Alzheimer's does make you forget these things. You forget lifetime patterns of behavior or long entrenched preferences. Lyn is forgetting. She has forgotten that she liked apple juice and now claims that she never liked chocolate milk. She has forgotten how she preferred her hamburger. She also now states she has never liked taking a bath and has always preferred to shower.
She is forgetting herself.
Think about how you like your favorite meal. Is it a sandwich, soup or pasta? Is it curry? Is your favorite meal a burger made a certain way? What about what you like to drink? Do you prefer tea, water, juice or coffee? Do you like milk or an alcoholic beverage?
Think about how you tend to your daily hygiene tasks. Do you bathe at night to relax before bed? Do you shower in the morning to wake up and get your day going? Do you brush your teeth before you dress in the morning or after?
Do you even think about what you like or how you prefer to execute your day? Probably not. I know I hardly have to think twice about what I like. If I have tasted something before, I am pretty sure of my like or dislike for it. If I like something, I don't suddenly dislike it one day or forget that I liked it a week or month ago. Then again, I don't have Alzheimer's.
Alzheimer's does make you forget these things. You forget lifetime patterns of behavior or long entrenched preferences. Lyn is forgetting. She has forgotten that she liked apple juice and now claims that she never liked chocolate milk. She has forgotten how she preferred her hamburger. She also now states she has never liked taking a bath and has always preferred to shower.
She is forgetting herself.
That is so sad.
ReplyDeleteWe try not to let the every day sad get to us too much. There is still a tremendous amount of my sister still present. Yes, she's changing. The cloth that is her is unraveling. But we can still see the threads and the colors even if there are holes in the fabric.
DeleteNot as sad as "fun" for me. I can now cook something and she asks if we've had it before. FIBLET-"yes"
ReplyDeleteTrue! It is a nice change from the days just a year or two ago when she would only eat about 5 meals. Variety is back on the menu.
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