My mom suffers from a form of dementia known as Lewy Body Disease, and until she was diagnosed with it about two years ago, I’d never even heard of it. Forty years ago, I’m guessing that almost all forms of dementia were lumped into the category of senility, or “a hardening of the arteries”, but these days we know that there are many different kinds of dementia. Lewy body is a a real challenge for the caregivers. First of all, it’s not easy to diagnose, and in fact we thought Mom was suffering from Alzheimer’s for almost two years before a neurologist properly determined the nature of her dementia. It is important to reach a proper diagnosis, because the medications used for Alzheimer’s sufferers are of little use, and in some cases contra-indicative, for the Lewy Body patient. Secondly, unlike the steady degeneration characterized by Alzheimer’s, Lewy Body Disease presents with strange and confounding symptoms. The Lewy Body sufferer see saws back and forth between lucidity and complete delusion, sometimes frequently during a 24 hour period. The disease attacks the brain in a more random pattern than does Alzheimers. One minute Mom is the Mom I know, and with the flip of a switch, she becomes an entirely different person … and then she‘s back again. We never know what to expect. There are hallucinations, periods of catatonia, moments of joy followed inexplicably by anger … in short, it’s an emotional roller coaster. Thankfully, we have excellent caregivers, but for a loved one who doesn’t know what is happening, it can be truly frightening. My sister and I have been coming in to Buffalo as much as we can, because we don’t know how much longer we have with the Mom we know. I have learned to be thankful for the good moments, which are becoming fewer and further between. The other day Mom announced that she wanted to go out to dinner, and so out to dinner we went. Everything was great, we had a good dinner, we laughed, we came home, she went to bed, was relatively normal for the first part of yesterday, and then she had hallucinations in the afternoon. She saw monkeys on Dad’s pipe rack in the den. We had dinner, and as she often does, she slept for a while after dinner. When it was time for her to go to bed, she got up, and to our surprise, walked into the kitchen instead of going upstairs. She sat down at the kitchen table and, in a demanding tone, declared that she was ready for her breakfast. At 12:30A.M I fixed my mom a scrambled egg with toast and coffee, because there was no changing her mind. As she ate her meal, she asked why I wasn’t eating. I shrugged and said I’d already had my breakfast. She told me to go into the other room and watch the sunrise. O.K. Mom.
While in Buffalo, and when Mom is sleeping or incommunicative, I look for other means to divert myself. The other day I went into Blockbuster, a store soon destined to be obsolete, and I rented Bill Maher’s documentary “Religulous”. I’ve been wanting to see it since he announced he was making it several years ago. The fact that it was created by the same guy who filmed “Borat” (which I loved) really captured my interest. I don’t think the movie was widely distributed, and I doubt it ever will be. “Guerilla” or “ambush” video, such as “Religulous” or the films which Michael Moore makes, seems to be growing in popularity. While they may not present a fair argument for the point they are trying to make, I enjoy these films for the same reason I enjoy watching some white collar criminal squirm in a 20/20 expose. I‘m glad I finally saw it, but “Religulous” turned out to be a bit of a disappointment for me. In my opinion, Maher , with his rapier wit, could have made a better case for the lunacy that accompanies most fundamentalist interpretations of religion. There WERE moments though … like when he spars intellectually with Jesus at a religious theme park. Jesus, by the way, turns out to be a big Bill Maher fan. Who knew? Anyhow, I think the point Maher was trying to make, however successfully, is that faith and religion are predicated on certainty, and life and reality just don’t work that way for many people. My big beef with organized religion concerns the amount of blood that is (and has historically been) spilled in the name of g-d. In my humble opinion, something is fundamentally wrong with the belief that it is o.k to kill someone because their actions or beliefs differ from yours. Murder the abortion doctor to celebrate one’s right to life. Drive a plane into the Twin Towers to seek revenge on the western infidel. I’m all for faith and hope, but I don’t think those concepts are well served by violence, hatred, and promises of eternal hellfire. By the way, what’s so great about virgins?
I head back up to the Great White North tomorrow. Tax returns have been filed, estimated payments have been made, unnecessary cable services were cancelled (I just found out that my deceased father has been paying for internet for the past year) …. And breakfast was served (albeit at 12:30AM). I’m just rolling with the punches. - Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2010 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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