Lyle's Page Our Story |
Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2 |
My name is Julie Western-Zuge and I created this website for my father and family. Since we have begun dealing with this dreadful disease, we have experienced many emotions, struggled with finding solutions, and overall become just a little bit wiser about dealing with Alzheimer's. Our hope is that some of the knowledge that we have gained can help some other family in this situation. If nothing else, we know from experience that it helps simply to know that you are not alone. There are literally millions of people struggling with the same problems and feelings that this disease brings to all of us. If you and your loved one were blessed with a sense of humor, we've found that this helps greatly. Our father was blessed with a very great sense of humor, and that remains with him to this day. For the rest of us, it always helps us to try to find a little humor in some of the things that the disease makes our father do. We have found that if you try very hard, you can find something positive in many of the trials that you face with this disease. Our father (and husband) was officially diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1997. By this time life had already become quite difficult for our mother, who has several health problems of her own. It had become increasingly clear that we somehow had to help them, as they lived in an area of Michigan where winters are long and snow plentiful. Some of our father's obsessive behaviors were reaching a level of danger and it was becoming increasingly difficult for our mother to deal with. Our father worked very hard all of his life and always loved working. As long as he was busy, he was happy. When it came to Alzheimer's, this translated to obsessive behaviors with things such as raking, snow shoveling, and other such tasks. His driving had also become a problem and it was clear that something had to be done. By the time we took him to a specialist, the wandering had also started. He most often said he needed to "go home"; a phrase I'm sure many of you are intimately familiar with. This "home" place was impossible to find and caused him to be in constant search and anxiety. We brought Dad to Marshfield Clinic where there is a very wonderful Memory Disorders Clinic, and an even more wonderful doctor by the name of Dr. Mickel. After extensive testing, Dr. Mickel told us that we were dealing with Alzheimer's. Since that time she and her staff have helped us immensely in coping with and trying to understand this disease. Looking back on it, we all knew that this had been coming on for some years. What we ignorantly believed to be "old age" had definitely been indicating Alzheimer's. We know now that the normal "old age" memory loss is very limited in comparison to Alzheimer's. We had effectively excused and denied many of the problems we had watched grow over several years. It was time to deal with reality. Due to his wandering, Dad ended up living in an Alzheimer's facility where he was quite happy. This did not happen quickly or easily -- in fact it took us more than three years to get to this point. And believe that it never was easy -- there is the unending guilt (especially for our mother), the sadness, the anger, the helplessness -- all of the typical Alzheimer's emotions to deal with. But the important thing was taken care of -- keeping our loved one safe, well-cared for, and as happy as possible. |
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12 |
This page was last updated on: November 24, 2008
