Do you know what my name is?
No, I don’t.
Do you know what my name is?
No.
Do you know what my name is?
No.
Oh, okay. Well, here. Let me show you. I’m John.
I started asking this question about a year ago.
The people I was asking were suffering from dementia.
I was diagnosed with a progressive disease. I don’t know how to spell it. So I wrote it the way it sounds, as the way it pronounced “Alzheimers”. Worst thing that can happen to a person. Might as well be dead.
The fact that, you know, you watch, before your own eyes you watch your parent change, and no longer is the same person that you grew up with. You know, it’s an emotional roller coaster, at least it was for me.
You have grand children?
Ah ha.
You do?
I don’t know. I don’t recall.
What we are going to be doing today is some brain exercises.
People with dementia are engaged in a treatment of reading, writing, and calculating for six months.
Wow, it must be a world record.
Can you put the 2 down for me.And this is a 2. That’s a 2.
The goal is to regain some of their independence and dignity to return for a time to themselves.
I see you tomorrow. I love you.
Wow, you fill the whole thing up.
Yeah, I grow fast.
Oh, beautiful.
Do you know what my name is?
I should. John!
That’s it. That’s it. Yeah.
Hollywood. Send me to Hollywood.
Yes, we are.
They got to dance.
People with dementia often forget the names of their friends and loved ones. Some cannot recall their own names. But this need not be the case.
Time marches on. And I go on with the… with the pieces.
They can come back. They can get the light back into their eyes. There is hope. And where there is hope, there is life.
