Mary's Place

A web page about the life of a lady who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

Name:
Location: Piedmont, Oklahoma, United States

I live in Piedmont, OK, with my Husband of 50 years who has been very supportive. We have 2 sons,David and Kenny, 6 grandkids, and 6 great grandkids. I enjoy feeding and watching the birds and squirrels. Before I was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, I ran a Licensed Day Care Home for Infants for 15 years. I noticed I wasn't able to remember important things and having problems with my speech. I was experiencing severe headaches. I would get lost. I didn't know how to use the computer. At the age of 55, I told my doctor. I was sent for an MRI. which showed a large amount of shrinkage. I went to a neurologist who sent me for two days of testing. I was diagnosed with dementia of the Alzheimer's type. My husband and I were both in shock. I had to give up my job. I went to see a social worker. I've taken Aricept for 11 years. I can now use the computer and even do this web page. I also host a chat room for dementia patients. This is a very lonely disease. I don't want anyone to feel as lonely as I did when I was diagnosed (I thought I was the only one over 50 that had Alzheimer's). In 2006 I started taking Namenda. Also I was told I have a mixed dementia, Alzheimer's/Vascular.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Thanks to Frank in England for visiting Mary’s Place and signing my guest book at http://www.angelfire.com/ok4/mari5113/index.html … I am so happy to tell you that Dave is doing much better now. Yesterday he had two nurses and a physical therapist visit him. He has been doing exercises everyday and I think that is helping him… Today he only had an aide visit him but she makes him feel better because she gives him a foot massage everyday… I did laundry, fixed meals, and cleaned the kitchen… David and Jeanne called… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Our family Christmas


Kenny came yesterday morning and shoveled our sidewalks and our long driveway for us. Later he came back and loaded us up with our gifts and took us to Norman to David and Lori’s for our family Christmas. Lori prepared a nice meal for us and Kathy made a delicious strawberry cake. Everyone had a good time… The roads were pretty much cleared; we saw several abandoned cars that had slid off the road the day before… I have been extra tired today, so I have taken it easy… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas!!! Happy Birthday Carole!!! Carole is a DASNI friend in Missouri… We had a terrible blizzard yesterday. It was the biggest snowfall ever for Oklahoma, Over 14 inches of snow. We did have a white Christmas. All toll roads and interstates were closed. It was the first time ever that we had to cancel our family Christmas Eve gathering… Kenny and Kathy who live two miles away got stuck in drifts last night trying to get over here to bring us Christmas dinner and our gifts. They never did make it… We had snowdrifts blocking our front and back doors. I could hardly get the door open far enough to let the dogs out. This afternoon Cliff, one of our neighbors came with a snow shovel and ice melt and cleared our front and back porch for us… Tonight Kenny and Kathy made it over and brought us dinner and our gifts. Dave got an hour of tail wheel instruction in a Cessna 170 and I got a Amazon Kindle… We hope to make it to David and Lori’s tomorrow… Yesterday the mailman brought us a box of home made candies from Helen, a school friend in Georgia… Please keep my friend Carole in your prayers. She is hospitalized and is having heart surgery soon… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Happy Birthday Jennifer!!! Jennifer is our granddaughter in Moore, Oklahoma… We have a couple people coming in everyday to check on Dave. He has improved some but still has a ways to go. I tease him and tell him he is getting spoiled… Meanwhile I am depending on Kathy a lot. She took me to get a hair cut last week and yesterday she drove me to run some errands and to Tinker Air Force Base Pharmacy so I could pick up our medicines… Yesterday evening I delivered Christmas to our neighbors… This morning I gave the four dogs a bath, fixed meals, cleaned the kitchen, did laundry, and ran the swifter vacuum… Dave complains of being so tired. I asked the nurse about it today and she said it could be because of his thyroid being high. He started the medication for it last night. I hope it helps him feel less tired… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Thursday, December 17, 2009

I have been meeting myself coming and going. Not much time for the computer anymore… Kenny came and shampooed our carpet, filled the water softener with salt, and took our garbage to the curb for us… Monday, Dave decided he wanted a new doctor so I called and found him one and made an appointment for the same day. David came and took us to the new doctor. Dave really liked him. They did lab work and ordered a echo heart test which was done yesterday. The doctor ordered home health care for Dave and they came yesterday. Kenny took Dave for the heart echo. I don’t know what we would do without our sons… The nurse called today with the results of all the tests and everything was normal except for his thyroid was high and his kidney function was low… I need to get back to the laundry and put fresh sheets on the bed and fix supper… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Sunday, December 13, 2009

I have had another busy day. It is hard when you depend on someone so much and all of a sudden he can’t even walk. I am managing okay. I just keep telling myself I can do this… One of our neighbors came by and brought a beautiful Poinsettia… Richard, David, and Carole called… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Today I have been busy with my caregiver duties... I gave Dave breakfast in bed, did laundry, fixed supper, and cleaned the kitchen... The picture I posted below is of my family and a couple of neighbors. David is missing from the picture because he was the photographer... Goodnight All... Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

My 70th Birthday


Friday, December 11, 2009

Happy Birthday to Me!!! Today is my 70th birthday… My family threw me a surprise birthday party… They brought in the works. There was spaghetti, salad, garlic bread, drinks, cake, and ice cream. There were 20 of us. I sure was surprised. I received cards, phone calls, and gifts… I am tired but it is a happy tired… Thank you everyone for making me feel so loved… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Thursday, December 10, 2009

David was here at 5:30 this morning to drive us to the hospital. I was complaining about having to get up so early but David got up a 4:00 to get here in time and he didn’t get home from work last night till close to midnight. What a great son we have. It was freezing cold when we left. After they did some lab work they decided against doing the surgery because Dave’s potassium was too low… We rescheduled it for after the holidays… David stayed and had breakfast with us then he headed home. Dave has been sleeping all day with his foot elevated. His right foot is six times larger than it should be. He got up long enough to eat supper and right back to bed he went… I have started the I Caps vitamins for my eyes, two in the morning and two in the evening. It supposed to help with the macular degeneration. I sure hope it works… I mailed a check to my favorite charity, the Salvation Army. That always gives me warm fuzzy feeling inside… I will be getting under the flannel sheets early tonight. My legs and foot hurt from being on my feet so much… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

It is in the teens and winter hasn’t even arrived yet… I did three loads of laundry and put flannel sheets on our bed. I fixed supper… I will go to bed really early tonight. Dave has to be at the hospital in Yukon at 6:30 AM… Goodnight All... Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

BRRRR it is cold here. This morning we had freezing rain… Dave went for his lab work today, hopping along on crutches… I am going to bed early tonight… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Monday, December 07, 2009

This morning we took Sugar and Mindy to be groomed. While they were getting groomed we went grocery shopping and that wasn’t easy. I used one of their motorized chairs and Dave pushed the cart. About half way through getting groceries, I looked at Dave and he looked terrible so I got out of my chair and told him to take it and I pushed the cart and finished getting groceries… By the time we finished getting groceries they called us on the cell phone to tell us that Sugar and Mindy were ready to be picked up… I put the groceries away and fixed supper… I am watching Carrie Underwood’s special… Dave is running a temperature tonight and David and I are trying to talk him into rescheduling his surgery. No luck so far he says he wants to get it over with. Sometimes he can be stubborn…. Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Sunday, December 06, 2009

Today has been a busy day for me… David and Lori came and brought leftovers. After a short visit we went birthday shoe shopping. We stopped by and picked up Kathy to take her with us. After the three of them found their shoes we went to IHOP for some lunch. Then we took David and Lori out to see Kenny and Kathy’s new home. They have shingles up now… Later the Ice Cream truck came and took us for Ice Cream and then to Yukon to see the Christmas lights. They were beautiful. It was the best Christmas light display that I have ever seen… I am tired tonight but I had a great day with my kids… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Saturday, December 05, 2009

Happy Birthday Lynne!!! Lynne is a long time DASNI friend and lives in Iowa Park, Texas… I am back! I have been busy with dental appointment, eye exam, showing the house, and etc… The dental appointment went well but found out that I have the start of macular degeneration when I got the eye exam. Yesterday we took our house off the market until spring… Our tree still isn’t decorated. I don’t seem to have any desire to do it right now… I made meat loaf for supper… Tonight I am watching a movie “White Christmas” … Dave is still running a temperature off and on. I wish I knew what was causing it… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma