"ALZHEIMER'S" a 3 hour PBS Special

[gizmolove]

Jan. 21st, 2004
PBS airs a 3 hour special on Alzheimer's Disease.

Re: A Portrait of Alzheimer's on PBS Tonight

I recorded last nights 3 hour special on PBS. I watched what I could, (which was most of it); but, it was very hard to deal with as I cried thru most of it. I hope to copy the 3 hour special and send copies to each of my two children. As with most of society today, they do not know the extent of this monsterous disease and the heart-break that it truly causes, and to what extent. I would recommend this program to any and everyone. Alzheimer's and the pain and grief that this disease causes can, and will eventually, touch all of us........

This program airs again on Jan. 25th and 26th, in most areas.

I have been dissapointed on most "Alzheimer's" programs in the past. However, this one is the very best and the most real depiction, that I have yet seen. (And the most informative). If Alzheimer's touches your life, watch it with a box of tissues.

Gizmo

[SciTeach]

It aired in my area on Wednesday. I, too, cried through most of it. It really reinforces what a dastardly disease this is and what a financial crisis we will face in the next 10-20 years with the baby-boomers aging.

You WILL need a box a tissues.

Sciteach

[Beginning]

My husband was diagnosed with early onset in Nov. 2003 (he's 59). We have no family history of AD at all -- even though he has 16 Aunts & Uncles, many in their 80s. We've been researching, but reading a book doesn't give you the true sense of the disease.

We started watching it with our 15 & 17 yr old sons (we've decided that our 12-yr old is too immature, and that we'd wait awhile before talking to her about this), but it was too hard for my husband...the boys ended up watching it upstairs. I cried through it, but it was so helpful! My sons told me that they learned a lot, and now they understand why we've been so upset. My husband said that one of the patient's description of being "blank" or having a hole where a thought would be is very accurate. He had been hopeful that new medicines were on the horizon and that a cure was imminent, based upon the encouragement of his doctors. After seeing the show, he said that he realized for the first time that any cure that is developed will be too late for him. Since he is in the very early stages, he was offended by the experts' advice on little tricks to deal with AD patients to "trick" them into behaving reasonably. He had viewed the disease as affecting memory and biological functions such as speech, but hadn't grasped that at some stage he won't be able to reason and communicate. The program has given us so much to talk about! We are fortunate that we are able to go to the Pittsburgh AD program, and have our first appointment in February.

I can't thank the families who participated in the filming of the program enough --their generosity in sharing their stories so honestly has been a real blessing to us.

[Twinlynn]

My wonderful, humorous, full-of-life mother, who developed severe dementia (TIA's), did not have Alzheimer's--but in many ways her illness resembled it. (The main difference, I believe, is that even when she could not function without 24 hour care--she knew what was wrong with her...and knew the family.) She got increasingly worse over a period of about 8 years...the depression being the worst of it. Her death several years ago was from bad heart disease...not the dementia. Those eight years were the worst of my life. She could describe everything she was feeling, and, a few years before she died, used the analogy of her mind as "butter, slipping through my fingers." She was in a very bad state by then--yet she spoke those words and held up her hand to show the "butter slipping through."

My twin sister and I had her in an apt. in our building, with 24 hour care those last two years. Four years later, I still remember everything she went through in such detail. Only now is it getting--thankfully--a bit more blurred.

Watching that PBS show on Alzheimer's was just about the most difficult program I've ever sat through. Only my strong need to know more about the disease kept me watching. It was the most powerful and informative presentation of just what Alzheimer's does to both the victim and the family. Particularly horrifying to me was the woman, who's emotional state switched so dramatically every two seconds....I just felt there was still a part of her brain that was aware of the horrors she was going through. It reminded me of my Mom--not the behavior--but having an awarenes that you have literally "lost your mind." I couldn't sleep that night and had to read for hours to get my mind distracted.

PBS is the first television network that has made such a "real" documentary about this disease. As one of the first of the Baby Boomers, I watched it with some real personal fear....even though at 58, all I suffer from, is a lousy memory.

Just wanted to say that I read this board every few weeks....and know how hard it is for everyone on it. The one thing that probably saved the the lives of my sister and I during that period was our very sick, dark sense of humor (inherited by our Dad, who passed away in 1977.) Many was the time we could tease my Mom--and she would laugh and hug us. The instant we walked into her apartment--and she knew we were there--she'd have a sparkle in her amazing blue eyes that lasted until the day she died. My sister and I are so thankful for that memory.

Lynn

[Butch Cape Cod]

I am Butch Noonan. My family was featured on the PBS special and my sister Fran was the person with white hair in a home. She was 2 yrs older than me. I have early ad. I would love to add insight to people dealing with this horrific disease. I have wonderful support from my family and good friends and neighbors. Please respond with any questions you may want to discuss.