From DSC:
Through the years, my mom was an incredible person — in a variety of ways. She was a wonderful mother to us, as well as a spouse to my dad. But she was also a wonderful daughter, aunt, grandma, friend, teacher, counselor, investor, and more. She was a philosophical, deep thinker and a person of action — often doing several things at a time (from the moment that she woke up until the time that she finally called it quits at the end of a long day). Amongst other things, she was an incredible musician. After graduating from college, my mom taught classical piano (to kindergarten through 12th graders) decade after decade…well into her 70’s.
But then, like her mom, she developed Alzheimer’s Disease and as things go with Alzheimer’s, things got progressively worse. Fast forward to today, and her short-term memory is now completely gone and the person who she once was continues to increasingly leave us. She lives with my dad in a memory care unit. (My dad has also experienced physical and cognitive decline…though not nearly as much as my mom.) My mom will ask you the same question many times over, as she can’t remember asking you the question before and she can’t recall your answer (for but a moment). She still recognizes us — though for how much longer that will be the case, we’re not sure. She doesn’t use our names nearly as much as she used to.
Below is a picture of my mom at her memory care unit…and, by the way, she didn’t recall that the piano that she was playing on was actually the exact same piano that she used for years to teach kids how to play classical piano.
All that said — and as you can tell from watching the video below — she can STILL:
- Sight read music (i.e., recognize notes, rhythms, dynamics, etc.)
- Play songs she remembers from long ago
- Sing along to songs/hymns from years ago
- Recognize and/or recall many of the lyrics from songs that she once knew
Wow!
The human mind is absolutely incredible to me! Scary and tragic when it stops working as it once did — but incredible nevertheless.
Glory to GOD in the highest!
Also see:
- Changing ‘the tragedy narrative’: Why a growing camp is promoting a more joyful approach to Alzheimer’s — from washingtonpost.com by Tara Bahrampour