I recently read an article about the horrible, debilitating disease, Alzheimer's. As a daughter of someone who suffered through this incurable illness, I can verify that it is indeed horrible to experience and watch, and be totally helpless. My father passed away three years ago, at the age of 68, from what is termed as "early onset" Alzheimer's. We now realize that he was most likely in the first stages as early as his fifties. He fought a good fight. He told us he did not want to die. He told us that he knew something was wrong, and begged my oldest brother to please find him a doctor that could "fix him." By the time he passed on he was bedridden, being tube fed, and looked like photos of someone from the concentration camps. It is very difficult to cope emotionally with the day to day deterioration, both physically and mentally, of someone you care for. However, believe it or not, you can find humor in any situation and that is what we did. That helped everyone through the progression of his illness and now leaves us with many good memories for us to keep.

To quote former President Ronald Reagan, "The good thing about Alzheimer's is that you get to meet new people every day!" One of my funny memories of time spent with my father is the day my boyfriend and I took him to an antique car show. He could, at that time, remember the cars, and in fact, remember having some of them and told many stories about them. The scary, yet very funny, part came when they cranked the "oldies" music, and he went down the street, dancing all the way, not paying a bit of attention to anyone, least of all us. I also happen to use an electric wheelchair. After unsuccessfully running behind him screaming, "Stop! Stop!" at the top of my lungs, I decided I had to take serious action. I put my chair in high gear, flew past him (with hair flying in the wind) and did a three sixty, with tires squealing, to put myself in front of him and block him so that I could bring him back. Unaffected, he just turned and danced the other way.

Two of his favorite pastimes were dancing (shaking his arms and legs) to country music videos on TV, and taking car rides. One day when we had him out for a drive in the country (and I do mean country!) we hit a horrendous pothole. Even though he was securely fastened in his seat belt, he hit his head on the ceiling and the front seat. Thankfully unhurt, but very shaken, he said, "Can we stop now?" I spent the next two hours alternately saying, "No, we’re out in the middle of nowhere. We can’t stop here;" and saying to my boyfriend, "Can’t you drive any faster?"

My favorite memory is the time we decided to take him out to dinner. At the time, my boyfriend had a very old cargo van and, as we had just been camping, it was full. We placed him on a lawn chair, wedged him in with the camping equipment, and locked the door. Did I mention we were parked on a hill? As we let off the brake and pulled out, his chair turned perfectly upside down and left only his feet sticking in the air. He didn’t make a sound! Frantically, my boyfriend dug through the van to get to the door lock so that he could get to my father. Expecting to find him hurt, or worse, we have never forgotten, that when he and the chair were righted, he was laughing hysterically and never stopped, or said a word all the way to the restaurant!

Thank you for letting me share just a few of my good memories with you. I hope this, in some small way, helps someone who may be going through, or has gone through some of the things that I have. Please create, or remember, your own good times. It will be a great strength to you now, and in the years to come.