New member

[Izzy]

I've already posted this in the tearoom but as a new member I'm not sure if I should post it here as well:

Hi I've just found this site tonight and I have been moved by many of the messages I have read. My husband is 73 this year and I am 52. The age difference has never mattered. We will have been married 25 years this year. If you look at him he looks not much older than I do! He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's 2 years ago and is taking Aricept. Although we have had some rough times we are getting on remarkably well. We seem to be lucky in that he is responding well to the medication and still does almost everything he used to do (he just doesn't know the date, day or year!!) We really try to be positve about this and I know the future will not be good but we are living every day to the full and we will take things as they come.

I look forward to using this site to help and support me over the coming years.

 

[Ruthie]

Dear Izzy

So glad that you have found this site - I have found it interesting, informative and supportive to read how other people are feeling and are coping with caring for their loved ones, and do hope it will be helpful to you as well.

I have noticed that the majority of postings are from people who are caring for, or are concerned about, their parents who are mostly in an older age group. I guess this may be because most people who get this disease are in an older age group and it is likely that their spouses are mostly of a similar age and are less likely to use computers.

Whatever the reason, I felt that I perhaps had more to relate to in your message as I am also caring for my husband who first showed signs of the disease when we were both in our early fifties - he is now aged 60 and the disease has progressed very slowly in his case.

He had to give up his profession some 6 years ago, and I had to give up my full time work three and a half years ago to care for him. It is awful seeing the person you love gradually changing into someone else, although there are still glimpses of the lovely man he was, and you must try to make the most of those moments and try to remember all the good times.

One bit of advice - if there is anything you have both always wanted to do, or somewhere you have wanted to visit, and it is affordable, do consider trying to do it now if at all possible. In our case we had always promised ourselves that we would visit Florence when our children were "off our hands" and we did manage to go for a few days three years ago to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. I don't know how much my husband remembers, although he enjoyed it immensely at the time and he still seems to have some recall of it (he loved art and architecture), and it has given me some lovely memories.

Please do reply if you want to - my thoughts will be with you.

Ruthie

 

[Izzy]

Thanks for that Ruthie - it does help. Funnily enough we are off to Egypt for our 25th anniversary at the beginning of next month. What you say is exactly how I feel and we were at Florence last October!!

Izzy