[Granville-Hough] 31 Jan 2009 - Alzheimer's events

[Trustees and Executors for Granville W. Hough]

Alzheimer's Events.

    One of the greatest actions of Ronald Reagan's life was when he and 
his family publicly declared that he had developed Alzheimer's disease.  
His action made it possible for thousands of people to admit that they, 
too, suffered from this malady.  Some of its manifestations that have 
become almost standard are (1) the desire to go home; (2) the inability 
to dress one's self; and (3) the failure to recognize family members.  
As some of you know, my wife Carol (Steckelberg) Hough, suffered two 
debilitating strokes, the second one requiring brain surgery to remove 
the excess fluid which had accumulated.  At the time of the second 
stroke, we had been married over 50 years.  Her behavior after the 
second stroke gradually adjusted to where she could do most things, but 
her mental reactions were sometimes unexplainable.  It gradually became 
clear that she gave the classical manifestations of Alzheimer's disease.
    One of the the first things I noted was that each afternoon she 
wanted to "go home," saying her parents had always told her when the sun 
got low that she should always get home before sunset.  It upset her for 
me to explain that her parents had died years before, and that we were 
in her home.   She would then cry and say: "Why didn't you tell me?" It 
did no good to explain that she had been at her mother's funeral, and 
that her father had died about 45 years earlier when we were stationed 
in Panama.  I worked out the solution of making a trip to "go home."  We 
would walk around several blocks in Leisure World, then return to our 
condominium and I would make a big point of pointing out pictures of our 
children, our furniture she had selected, her books and clothes; and 
then suggest I make supper and she could watch a children's program.  
This worked mostly but one day she eluded me and left before I noticed 
she was not watching TV.  I then went around the block looking in all 
directions, and there was no Carol.  All I could do was to call Leisure 
World Security to warn the gates not to let her out, because she would 
be completely lost and in danger on the streets.  The LW Security found 
her about a mile away, completely lost, but she answered to her name.  
He brought her home, but she denied ever seeing me or being in that 
condominium.  I was able to produce both her ID and mine and prove to 
the Security that I was the proper husband and that this place was her 
home.  I asked my upstairs neighbor, who knew of Carol's condition, to 
identify me, which she did and Carol gradually relaxed and probably 
forgot about the whole episode.
    When I talked to other caretakers about the "going home" impulse, 
most had had more serious incidents than I.  Sometimes it took hours to 
find the person, and some victims got on buses or trains and wound up 
far away. These serious cases were frequently reported in the press as 
amnesia, but they were actually an Alzheimer manifestation.
    The problem of dressing one's self is something we have to teach 
children, step by step.  Nearly everyone can remember the trauma of 
learning to tie shoe strings.  The Alzheimer's victim loses those 
abilities one by one, until they have some emergency which forces the 
caretaker to take over.  Doctor appointments are hard to keep, because 
the person to be seen cannot get ready, and will not accept help.  We 
stopped going to church morning services and attended the service on 
late Saturday afternoons.  It took Carol all day to get dressed.  One 
day we had an appointment for Carol to see a foot doctor to trim her 
toenails and treat a toe infection.  Carol insisted on wearing panty 
hose and gave me quite a lecture that she wore her clothes her way, and 
I could wear mine my way:: just leave her alone.  I told her she would 
have to take the panty hose off so the foot doctor could do his work on 
her toes, and she just got angry.  Then , when we got to the doctor's 
office, she absolutely refused to take off the panty hose, and we had to 
leave without treatment. 
    At some point the caretaker realizes that he or she must watch and 
help the Alzheimer's victim in  much the same way you have to care for a 
child who has just learned to walk.  You have to know where they are at 
all times, they must be kept out of trouble, they must be taken to the 
bathroom, they must be bathed, dressed,  fed, and helped to do most 
things.  Every parent learns how quickly a new walker can scoot out of 
sight.
    Then there comes a point where the Alzheimer's victim does not 
recognize family members.  A particular incident I remember very well 
came one afternoon after naps.  (Everyone in Leisure World takes 
afternoon naps, and Alzheimer's caretakers desperately need them.)   As 
I woke up, I noticed Carol was sitting up in bed looking at me with an 
intense stare.  She said, "Who are You?"  I realized she was in another 
time or world and just said: "I am your husband, Granville Hough, and we 
have been married over fifty years."  She said, with absolute emphasis 
and conviction: "Oh, no, you are NOT my husband.  My husband is 
Granville Hough, and he is a young Captain in the Regular Army.  You are 
just some OLD MAN who claims to be my husband."  Of course, she had the 
last part right.