About this blog

My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease on June 18, 2025 at the age of 90, however I started to notice changes a few years ago. It began with repeated questions -- within the same conversation and also day after day after day. Although I was concerned, I chalked it up to her being alone all the time.

My dad died in 2016 and she’s lived alone ever since. For many years, she volunteered weekly at two local organizations, so she socialized with lots of other people. She drove, went to doctor’s appointments on her own, did her own shopping, and attended all of my son’s soccer, hockey, and baseball games. Then COVID-19 came and, because of her age (85 at the time), she went into total lockdown. I did all of her grocery shopping, dropping items off in her garage and keeping my distance just in case I had become infected and didn’t know it yet. We talked on the phone daily, as we had before and as we still do. The only time she left the house was to “exercise” her car by driving a 5-mile loop around the neighborhood, alone in her car.

When a COVID vaccine became available in early 2021, she drove herself to get it and eventually started going out and doing things again, although she never went back to volunteering.

In 2021, she began having spells of anemia. She began using a walker because her back hurt otherwise and also in case she fainted (because of the anemia) while standing. Long story short, she had intestinal bleeding and the blood thinner she was on was prohibiting the bleeds from clotting. In 2022, she endured several heart procedures including a cardiac catheterization, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), and the implantation of a Watchmen device, which meant she no longer needed blood thinners.

More than a year of hospital, emergency department, urgent care, and doctor visits took its toll on her. Somewhere along the line, she asked me to sell her car. She wasn’t up to driving anymore. She began withdrawing from other things like going to restaurants, the mall, and elsewhere with me. She skipped my son’s high school graduation because it would’ve been “too much.”

Then the memory issues began. First, she had no recollection of an overnight hospital stay after one of the heart procedures. I know anesthesia and the elderly are a bad combination, so I chalked it up to that. She had trouble remembering my son’s girlfriend’s name. Well, she’d never met her in person, so I used that as an excuse. Her hearing was getting worse, so I also used that as an excuse: She simply hadn’t heard what I’d already told her.

Eventually, I couldn’t excuse it anymore. She’d ask me a question, I’d answer, she’d acknowledge my response, and then a few minutes later she’d ask the same exact question totally unaware that it had already been asked and answered. So, I did what everyone does these days: I went online for answers. I found that memory loss was a normal part of aging but what set Alzheimer’s apart was that the person became nonsensical. Everything my mom said and asked made sense. She just didn’t always remember. I mentioned it at her 2024 annual physical. The doctor administered a couple quick test. She failed one but passed others. The doctor said she could see a neurologist for more testing, but since her repeated questions didn’t bother her, she declined.

Over the following year, the repetition became more frequent. In mid-2024, I took over paying her bills because they were sometimes confusing to her. She called me once or twice totally wound up about something and confused. I’d go to her house, calm her down, and she’d go back to normal. At her 2025 annual physical, I mentioned it again to the doctor and was more forceful with her that she was slipping. We went to see a neurologist in June and while she could easily count backwards, knew the year, and some other things, she failed the “remember these 3 words” test and others. Her diagnosis, not spoken out loud but written in ICD-10-CM code (G30) on a lab slip, was Alzheimer’s disease.

And here we are.