One year ago Joan was yet at Rakhma House, a residential home for ten persons dealing with Alzheimer's Disease.The staff surrounded her with love, compassion and genuine friendship. I found that visiting Joan did not work out. The occasion was too disruptive for fellow residents, the staff, and myself. So went life for about three months until death came to Joan on August 5, 2014.
Some reflection on the experience is now becoming possible for me. I certainly have no answers for anyone else going through the experience. The inevitably of the pain on all sides is becoming more evident to me. My reflections here are one way for making a contribution.
Go on line and ask for Grand Canyon web cams. What will appear is a picture in real time of the vastness of that space. Being there gives a bit more perspective but not much. The haze gives a shaded view of cliffs, towering headlands, the open spaces, and a tiny flow of water away down at the bottom. The Colorado River is mostly a figment of the imagination for the viewer. The distances disorient the mind.
When viewing the Memory Loss scene as a care giving participant one has that same disorientation of the mind. It is too much to comprehend. Months after direct involvement a person still has a certain nausea when reflecting on the experience. At least I do.
I have the greatest respect for those who have intimately taken part as Care Givers and have survived the experience. I think of those who take a raft on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. They have experienced guides who know what to do and when in order to survive to another day. The Alzheimer's Care Giver simply does not have comparable guides. And the trip inevitably leads to death for the person with the disease.
Today there came in the mail a magazine published by Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota where Joan attended college. It is noted that she was Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in Education graduating in 1953. She lived for over 80 years extending her skills and warm person to many people.
This post by Delton is in honor of Joan.
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