Dementia

    Dementia is a difficult thing to have to bare. I recently read an article about a daughter and her dad who was battling dementia. A little background information, is that her dad did go to medical school at the University of Minnesota, but it wasn't long after, that World War II began. He did take some time off to be an archaeologist, but went into the war, after it broke out more. The daughter stated that her dad was based in the Mohave Desert, when he all of a sudden passed out from the heat, hitting his head against the hard desert floor and sustained a closed head injury. He was in a coma for months and when he woke, he had to relearn how to walk and talk again. He had a successful rehabilitative process, and actually stayed in the army until World War II ended - he just stayed stateside.

    Years had passed raising a family and as the dad aged, he began to retain fluid build up behind the scar tissue he had in his brain, from the injury back in his army days. He underwent surgery to drain some of that fluid and it "backfired" as the daughter stated. He came out of surgery with a severe stage of dementia and went by the name Herman. While being placed in a nursing home, the "Herman" began to ask when certain awards or degrees would be coming in the mail. It can be tricky as to how to go about assessing certain situations with a loved one who has dementia. For "Herman's" daughter, she felt it was best to play along, because it caused no harm and brought purpose, peace, and accomplishment to the person she loved. If that meant her going home and creating a fake degree with her dads name or buying a baton or an award for directing the Lawrence Welk band, she did what she could to make him satisfied. 

    I decided to read this article, because dementia can be such a difficult disease to understand. Like this article, "Herman" went in to surgery as his usual self and came out with dementia. That is such a tragic thing. As family or friends, you do not want to see someone you know and/or love go through this terrible disease. Unfortunately, there is still no cure for dementia. As of today, doctors and scientists are still researching reasons to why people may develop dementia. What is for sure, is that it is caused by damage to our brain cells where they cannot communicate normally and effectively. 

Resources

Bursack, C. (2008). Playing along with a dementia patients realities. AgingCare. 

   https://www.agingcare.com/articles/playing-along-with-dementia-realities-121365.htm