Grandma Sharen

 Glenn's mom Sharen Case lives in a Memory Care Unit at Farmington Square in Beaverton.  We placed her there in November 2010 as she could no longer be alone and is too much work for any one of us to take on.  As she is living there, we try to bring Emma to visit her often.  Today we took to opportunity to visit her. Our visits tend to take the same track.  We take Sharen back to a little visiting area next to her room.  Emma runs into her room and brings out her stuffed animals.  Then Emma plays with the animals and runs around making noise.

 

As a routine, this has worked well.  When we arrived today, Sharen was in a mad, and sitting off by herself. She was angry at us from the moment we arrived, and informed us that we wouldn't believe her because nobody believes what she says happened to her and tell her it is the disease!  I have to admit that I was not sure how to react at first, but was so grateful and proud of my husband for his response.  He has the ability to just let his mother vent and let her work her mad off. It wasn't long before Sharen was calmed down and we could have a good visit.


Watching Sharen change with her Alzheimer's has been a difficult and emotional experience. And not at all what we expected.  In the reading we did when we first learned that she had Alzheimer's, we expected her to just lose her memory and to have lots of confusion.  While that is an aspect of her disease, she has changed so much physically it has really surprised us. When I met my Mother-in-law, it was not unusual for her to jump up and do a little dance, to never sit down and keep doing things, to be totally active.  I really thought that she would be the one still going on power walks at age 90.  So when Alzheimer's took her activity away, we were shocked.

 It started with her vision.  She is not blind, in that her eyes still work and she can see, but her brain has stopped processing what she sees, leaving her effectively blind.  There is a name for it that I am not currently remembering. So early on, one day she could see and read one of Emma's books, and the next she couldn't see a thing. This was very difficult for her, and frustrating.  Due to this "blindness" she started having some accidents and falling.  She stopped trusting her spacial ability, and became uncertain in moving around, even with help.  Eventually due to her falling, she was placed in a wheel chair.  In the year and a half that she has lived at Farmington Square, she has gone from a woman who could move herself around and wanted more physical activity, to someone who cannot even stand on her own.  Glenn recently took her to the doctors, and the effect she is having with her eyes is now effecting her whole body.  She does not even know how her body is working at this point in time, and has lost the ability to even reach out and grab something most days.

As with all of us, Sharen has good days and bad days. She is still a joy to be around on the good days.  Sometimes we arrive there, and she is singing songs for all to enjoy.  She loves to see and hear Emma, and always remembers who she is.  She doesn't always remember me, but that is okay.  She thinks of me as the nice lady who takes care of her Grand-daughter, and I am fine with that.  Emma is her happy memory in her later life, and there is such joy in that for her, that she doesn't forget her, and how awesome is that! We can even get her talking on some of her joys form her early childhood, such as her stuffed bear Bruno whom she loved.  Sharen loves to have visitors and loves to see her family.  We need to remember to take as much time with her as we can while we still have her.  Love you Grandma Sharen!