I'll Have The Chicken And Marshmallows!

I have found myself very fortunate to have married into a family that took my mom under their wing after my father passed away in 1992.  My mom was always included in all of my husband's family gatherings.  She even came on a cruise we all took for my in-laws 50th Anniversary!  (More on that one day.)

One of the 'red flags' that I started to question regarding my mom and a possible dementia issue came on the night of her surprise birthday on 5/28/2005.  My mom was turning 65 on June 1st. We went to Il Forno's in Fitchburg and my mom seemed to struggle with the menu.  My mom frequently went out to eat, so I thought it a bit odd that she needed help with the menu.  When she finally decided what she wanted to order, she chose a chicken dish.  I remember it was called Chicken Scarprello. The dish had peppers, onions, and mushrooms.  My mom kept saying that the mushrooms were called marshmallows.  If someone asked her what she had, she would respond with chicken and marshmallows. Now I know everyone can mix up a word here or there, but she consistently called the mushrooms marshmallows which made me put that together, along with some other behaviors, and I started to wonder.

Things after that evening started to happen here and there and began my questioning what was going on with her. However, whenever I voiced any concerns to people around me, I was told that I was reading more into something than I needed to.  In my heart I really knew something was amiss.

I had no education in dementia.  After this night, I began to research as much as I could about dementia issues and what can cause them. Of course I was constantly hoping that if my mom had a dementia issue, that it was caused maybe by something easily fixed such as an increase in vitamin B12 or perhaps a surgery.  I traced her history with anti-depressants and her behaviors after my father's early death in 1992. I didn't want my mom to have Alzheimer's, I wanted a doctor to find the problem and fix it so my mom could go back to being the mom that I knew from my past.

I will forever be grateful to my husband's family for everything over the years they have done for my mom. After all, my mom and I only had each other for family here. The rest of our family lived far away. The evening was fun.  We bought a cake and presents and had a great time!  My mom, as you can see, was very happy!  It makes my heart happy to see these pictures of my mom smiling and laughing because as her disease progressed it didn't often happen.

After this evening, my mom and I discussed the word loss over a coffee while we were crafting on her back porch.  She was also a bit worried herself. I asked her if I could go with her to the doctor and she said yes.  From that moment on, I was by her side at almost every doctor's appointment.  I guess you could say our Alzheimer's journey started in June of 2005.  Of course, in hindsight, it began earlier but officially it began, at Dr. Kelley's office in June of 2005.