As I was knocking about the internet the other day I found an online version of a magazine article, titled “Never Alone,” that my mother got published back in 2003. The article is about how Mom’s faith in God and a big black dog comforted her when she was first diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at the young age of 60.
According to the Alzheimer's Disease Education and Referral Center, “Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and eventually even the ability to carry out the simplest tasks.” That’s the clinical definition. It takes on a much more personal tone when it strikes someone in your family. It slowly takes away who that person is before it takes their life.
Rereading her article now, seven years after it was published, is like a window into the past for me. I can once again see the woman I once knew, expressing the thoughts and fears that she can no longer fully articulate.
Mom wrote: “Tank sprang out the door and galloped down the road. Eighty solid pounds of black Labrador retriever, he certainly lived up to his name. He loved barreling through our 160 acres. I used to enjoy it too, but not lately. Not since I heard the word Alzheimer’s. ‘You seem to be showing some early signs,’ the neurologist had told me, after a checkup with my family doctor and a battery of tests, including a brain scan. […]
“I remembered the flyer I’d picked up from an Alzheimer’s support group. It said that I should get an ID bracelet with my name, address and phone number. More than likely I’d end up forgetting who I was and where I lived. The thought horrified me. I was going to lose myself, remembering nothing and nobody. Would I eventually forget who God was? Lord, I can’t bear the idea of being so utterly alone. Please stay with me.
“’Tank!’ I called. No sign of our big black Lab. Would I forget him too? ‘Here, boy!’ I called. Tank careened out of the woods. The dog was so big that when he stood on his hind legs his paws rested on my shoulders. Still, he was one of the most gentle creatures I’d ever known. Tank circled me then dashed back into the trees, chasing something I couldn’t see. I’m being chased too, I thought. To a place where no one will be able to reach me.”
Medicine has slowed it somewhat, but the predator that stalks my mother is closing in swiftly now. She has difficulty now with common tasks that my four-year-old takes for granted. My words, my guns, even my love for my mother are all powerless against this killer.
Mom is a good, hard-working, church-going woman, totally undeserving of being slowly stripped of a lifetime of memories, then of life itself. I often use this blog to impotently speak out against injustice. If you’re listening God, I’m speaking out now.
If anyone else has some time, please read the short article by my mom, Judy Cashner, here.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Post Topics
10 Questions with...
abortion
ACLU
alcohol
Alzheimer's
Ames Straw Poll
armed self defense
assault weapons ban
Audit the Fed
Austin Petersen
Barack Obama
Ben Lange
Beth Cody
Between Two Rivers
Bill Weld
Bob Barr
Bob Cashner
books
Bruce Braley
Bruce Hunter
Candidates
Carl Olsen
Cedar Rapids Gazette
charity
Chet Culver
Christopher Peters
Clel Baudler
communism
Confederate Flag
Constitution
Constitutional Convention
Corey D. Roberts
Crime
Cristina Kinsella
Dan Muhlbauer
debt
Declaration of Independence
Democrat Party
disasters
Donald Trump
drones
drugs
economy
education
elections
Eric Cooper
events
Facebook
Fast and Furious
First Amendment
food freedom
foreign policy
free markets
freedom
Gary Johnson
gay marriage
Glenn Beck
gold
gun control
Gun Owners of America
guns
health care
Hillary Clinton
history
Honey Creek Resort
Iowa
Iowa Caucus
Iowa City
Iowa Firearms Coalition
Iowa First District
Iowa Freedom Report
Iowa Gun Owners
Iowa Right To Life
Jake Porter
Joe Bolkom
John Boehner
John McAfee
John McCain
Judge Napolitano
Keith Laube
Lake Delhi
law
Lee Heib
Lee Hein
liberals
Libertarian Party
libertarianism
marijuana
Me
media
medical marijuana
memes
Memory Walk
Michele Bachmann
military
Mom
Nate Newsome
Nick Taiber
NRA
NSA
Obamacare
police
policy
politics
President Obama
primaries
privacy
property rights
Rand Paul
religion
Republican Party
resistance
Rick Santorum
right to carry
Rob Petsche
Rod Blum
Roger Fritz
Ron Paul
Rush Limbaugh
Ryan Flood
Sandy Hook Massacre
Sarah Palin
Second Amendment
smoking
Social Security
spending
Star Wars
State Defense Forces
Steve King
Steven Lukan
taxes
Tea Party Movement
Tenth Amendment
terrorism
Terry Branstad
Tom Harkin
traffic cams
TSA
TV/Movies
war
Wayne Jerman
weapons
Will Johnson
Yuri N. Maltsev
Zach Wahls
I know it must be difficult to share a personal moment to relative strangers, but please know that you and your mother are not alone.
ReplyDeleteI shared your mom's story with my wife and it will be passed on to others as well.
I wish I could express adequate words of comfort for you both, our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Wonderful article by your Mom. At a loss for words on this. I will pray.
ReplyDeleteNorthBridge
Thanks guys. When I re-read Mom's article I felt like it deserved to be shared with people again.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ben. We keep a copy of that magazine on our coffee table and it has been read by various visitors over the past few years. That and your old Mother's Day post are two things I cherish.
ReplyDelete