I forgot! Alzheimer’s
By Marcos Otero
Carmen was busy working in her orchid garden. She has always had a green thumb, which is one of her pleasures. Even in the dark, windowless apartments of New York, she could bring any plant to fullness and greenness with flowering. But she could not remember where her pots were. Okay, she would come back to that later. “I just go make my morning coffee.”
Carmen’s coffee routine, which she had done every morning since childhood, would awaken the neighbors in the little village she now lived in. The valley seemed to concentrate the aroma. All the neighbors would love to stop by just for her coffee. She made coffee with an old cloth strainer and warmed the milk until right. She lit the propane stove. “Where was the coffee?” she asked, taking the milk from the fridge. She suddenly thought and decided to go lay down for a little bit.
Later that morning her daughter went to see her and found the pots and orchids in disarray. She found the stove on with overcooked milk. Carmen was in the bedroom with tears in her eyes. She had the look of a lost child. Not knowing where she was—not recognizing her daughter immediately. Then like a switch being turned on she remembered the stove and the coffee. “Do you want some coffee?”
Her daughter could do little more than cry and hold Carmen.
Carmen had a hard life growing up through the depression, and from very humble beginnings, she raised her four children while working full-time in a factory. Carmen always had a smile or a scold. She drove her children to get educated and learn English. Carmen was always so very independent. She was full of love; no matter how tired, she smiled and laughed. Family and friends would drop by unexpectedly and she would cook and make her coffee.
The changes.
The changes had started several years ago and, over the last few months, had seemed to progress much more quickly. Carmen had started having dementia. At first, she forgot what her daughter had just said, or she would not understand it. She would forget what she started to do or even how to do something she had done daily all her life. This would frustrate her, and she would get angry and sad. She would stay in her bedroom for a bit, which slowly became hours. She would get worse at night and seemed better every morning. But as days passed, her lucid periods became few and far between.
Dementia is a general term for memory loss and other mental abilities severe enough to interfere with daily life—physical changes in the brain cause it.
Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia, accounting for an estimated 60 to 80 percent of cases.
Symptoms: Difficulty remembering recent conversations, names, or events is often an early clinical symptom; loss of interest and depression are also usually early symptoms. Later symptoms include impaired communication, poor judgment, disorientation, confusion, behavior changes, difficulty speaking, swallowing, and walking.
Doña Carmen is my mother. My sister cares for her as she transitions from a lucid lovely woman to one lost in her world. Alzheimer’s forgives no one. All we can do is love and remember those key moments as we try to make their life simple and happy.
