Neuro Note #5 - Dementia/Alzheimer's Disease

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Hello! I'd like to introduce you to my grandparents--affectionately known as granny and pa. 

Granny and Pa met in May and were married August 10, 1955. From the day they met to the day they were married they were together every day. They loved each other dearly. 

Granny and Pa lived a full life together for 62 years. They had two sons, several daughter-in-laws (s/o uncle bob), three grandchildren and a garden full of vegetables and flowers. They enjoyed being outside, going to church and spending time with family. 

Granny died of Alzheimer's disease in November 2017. Growing up, I can't remember when the official diagnosis was but I knew she had the signs of dementia. The memory loss was gradual. It was a given that when we would go to see Granny and Pa she would ask the same three questions the entire time we were there. "Where are you in school?", "When will you be done?", "Do you have a boyfriend?" We would always oblige and she would smile and tell us "Oh that's good, I'm going to have a nurse (my sister) and a pharmacist (I was pre-pharm before OT) to take care of me!" 

What I would do to have repeat this conversation again and again--again..

Granny fell around August of 2017. She couldn't remember falling but she told Pa how she was in pain. He took her to the ER--where she refused to have an MRI done. They thought she had fractured her hip, but could not confirm. At this point her memory was pretty much gone. She only recognized Pa and would become very upset if he was gone for more than 30 minutes. She stayed at the hospital for quite a while and was seen by OT and PT (they were great). She was moved to a SNF after about a month. This was all very hard on Pa. He didn't want to see her go to a nursing home but he was no longer able to take care of her. There were a few times where she would kind of recognize us but she was mostly out of it. She stopped speaking but she would hum along with the hymns at the SNF's church services. Eventually she stopped eating and it wasn't long after that she passed. 

With all of this being said, I decided to use Alzheimer's disease (AD) for my 5th and final neuro note. I watched a ted talk by Alanna Shaikh titled, "How I'm preparing to get Alzheimer's." The title interested me because this might be something I need to prepare for seeing how AD is linked to mutations of specific inherited genes. Not only did my grandmother have AD, her mother and sister did as well. Alanna explains the ways that she is preparing for Alzheimer's is by eating healthy, exercising, and keeping her mind active. However, she knows these measures won't "protect"her from getting dementia. She explains how she has familiarized herself with hobbies that will be enjoyable when her "brain's not running the show anymore." This preparation won't stop or prevent the dementia but it will allow her to be more engaged in occupations and maximize her quality of life. Which is ~retrieval practice~ the primary goal of OT intervention in clients with dementia. I think Alanna's attitude, though forlorn, is quite realistic and inspiring. It is a call to action. We may not have a cure for AD in the next 50 years but we can be ready for it. This is a type of early intervention I hadn't considered before. Overall I definitely recommend watching this ted talk because it opened my eyes to a new perspective on the preparation of and AD diagnosis. 

Skaikh, A. (2012, June). How I'm preparing to get Alzheimer's" [Video]. TED. https://www.ted.com/talks/alanna_shaikh_how_i_m_preparing_to_get_alzheimer_s 

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