It can be a saving grace.

Some Alzheimer care-givers are rattled when their patients talk about their long-dead parents. As if they were still alive. Too often, the care-givers try to distract 'em, and change to another subject. Or worse yet, tell them that the parents are dead. But I'd choose to enter the patient's reality. In a sense, they are living in another time. Which is all right. Instead, I'd readily talk to them about their parents. And that maybe they'll come to visit some day soon. After they return from a trip. Talking about their parents can't do any harm. And it might bring them pleasure that stimulates their minds. They need all the stimulation they can get. So turn back the clock. Live in the past with them. Enter their world. Because they are not going to enter your world any more. Believe me, it'll bring them peace. Maybe you'll enjoy it, too. We do have some freedom to create our own realities, you know. With Alzheimer patients, it can be a saving grace. --Jim Broede