"While I Still Can: - a video about a patient with Alzheimer's Dementia

I cried.

I'm going to say something on here that most people will disagree with because they will never understand  how I can think such a thing.  First of all, I doubt the man in the video has alzheimer's, or he does not have a severe case of it. There are many people with alzheimer's who live at the assisted living center where my aging mother lives and I don't believe they could either write those notes or organize them properly to show them to the camera.
But that's not what I am going to say that many will not understand. My mother does not have alzheimer's and is completely lucid, able to speak her mind, able to count her money, and able to carry on a long conversation with anyone willing to listen. She is in her 90's and is very happy not to have alzheimer's.
She is,  however, angry about each and every one of her infirmities, angry that she is wheelchair bound, angry that her sight is failing her, and angry that she is aware that she has very little time left to live. She claims to believe in an afterlife but is the most frightened of dying person I've ever known. She practically lives at doctor's offices absolutely demanding  that they find a cure for her illnesses, which are all simply a part of the aging process. When a doctor tells her that, she insists on finding another doctor with a better opinion.  She has no patience with the workers at the ALC where she lives, and is constantly reporting them to the center director if anything they do displeases her. She is on the phone constantly with her old friends, but most of them are tired of her calling because her conversations are all about her infirmities and about how she believes she should be living with one of her ungrateful children rather than "put away" in an ALC. She is incontinent, nearly blind, and wheelchair bound, and all her children are in their 70's and late 60's and unable to do the lifting required to help her, but she still resents them for not doing so. She has no sympathy for their cancer,their artificial hips or for their knees or for the  ruptured vertibrae in their backs. They owe her so they should keep her in their homes instead of "putting her away." She is simply the most miserable, angry, complaining, unhappy and demanding  person you could ever imagine.
She does not have dementia.  She has been  somewhat demanding, controlling, self centered and unconcerned  about other people's problems  for most of her life. She's never been the easiest going  of parents to live with.  But as she has aged, and as her body has failed her,  her personality has hit  full throttle, and she alienates many people who would otherwise care for her more. She is a difficult person to love, to say the least. Her children still love her, but she has lost many old friends.  
Here's what I have often thought. Most of the dementia patients I have met seem to be happy in whatever the place it is that they reside. We  don't know what they are thinking, or where they are in their minds in time and space, but so long as we take care of them,it is us that are suffering and not them so much. But if you are totally aware, as my mother is, of the loss of your bodily functions, of your close proximity to death, then it is her that is suffering and not so much us.
Although she can make it hard with her demands, I'm not sure that dementia would not have been something of a blessing.
At least she would not know the truth of what is happening and have to face it each day when she looks in the mirror. Maybe she would have more peace than my very angry mother has at this stage of her life.

I'm sure many people won't agree with me, but I've been wanting to speak my piece on this subject. Maybe it will be the beginning of an interesting discussion.

Well said.

Dementia is a blessing for those way past their prime. Dementia was very kind to my mom who lived with us for the last six or so years of her life.

Otter,

While I do not pretend to be an expert on the subject of Alzheimer's, my experience with the disease seems to have echoed that of your own observations and Eric's mother. It runs on one side of my family, and those who have suffered from the disease have all gone between an inability to effectively communicate intelligently, and/or as an adult with the full recollection of their memory, education, experienes, familial history, etc., -- in other words, existing in utter confusion, for lack of better terminology -- then, at times, suddenly snapping back to reality with total recall, having 100% access of their faculties, memories, and being sharp as a whip; sadly, the latter being far less frequent.

Two of my family members that have suffered from this horrible disease seemed to be acutely aware of their condition,and as they were extremely strong and independent women, they were *extremely* angry -- or, perhaps "frustrated" is a better word -- during the times when they were living in the past. As devastatingly heartwrenching as it was for us as loving and caring family members to watch these amazing ladies go through this, I simply cannot imagine how they felt, as they were very clearly aware of their condition.

What a horrible, devastating, debilitating disease. Nearly everyone in my family now does everything we can to combat Aalzhemer's... we all follow the scientific studies, eat "brain food," do mind puzzles... all of it. I thank god -- if there is one -- that my 91-year-old granny shows no signs at this point. It is on her side that the disease runs, and all five of her siblings that lived to be over 65 have developed the disease. I would be utterly devastated if she were to develop Alzheimer's... possibly even moreso than if my parents did. She is everything to me.

Anyhow Otter, I'd like to think of the posted video -- if in fact he does not suffer from Alzheimer's -- as something he may have posted in honor or representation of a loved one, and that his heart was in the right place... again, if, in fact he does not have the disease himself.

Thank you Melissa!!!
My father is in a nursing home in Mobile with dementia and alzheimers, along with being legally blind, wearing 2 hearing aids, and stuck in a bed or wheelchair.. He changes from day to day and minute to minute.. I can go see him and he might be aware of everything around him and talking about things from 60 years ago up to a minute ago, but other times, he has no idea who I am and never says a word for a few hours..

Alzheimer's doesn't run in my family and I guess that's why my mother has not had to deal with it. She is so "frustrated," (yes, that is a good word) with her condition though that she is just very unhappy. It goes from day to day.Today she is happy because someone she knew from the years she went to church is coming over to help her address Christmas cards and mail them. I'm happy about that too because she had asked me to address them and mail them out and she had no addresses for most of the recipients.
As Eric said, it may be that Alzheimer's can be a blessing for someone of such very advanced years, but I understand that for those who get it earlier in life it can be a curse. I do believe it is probably harder on the family of the patient than it is on the patient themselves though. I did have one grandmother who had it during her late 80's and she seemed very happy talking to her husband and to children who had passed on before her.
All of the people she would talk to when she had her spells were already gone to their maker.I used to wonder if it was really "hardening of the arteries" which was the term used back then or if she was actually seeing them in preparation for her move to the other side.

My mom had to have her puzzle (find-a-word) book and her wine at 4 p.m.

She was an elegant lady and always had her makeup on and dressed sharply. This pic describes her fittingly. She was 90 in this photo.