Alzheimer's

It all started about a year ago or at least that's when I noticed it. Me and my dad went to the store to buy some of the things that he needed for the house. We went down the personal care isle and when I turned around to ask him if he needed some lotion he was gone. I looked everywhere and I just couldn't find him. Finally after about an hour of searching I found in the front of the store talking to this little boy who was around the same age of my son. "Dad what are you doing?" I asked impatiently "I've been looking all over for you. Where were you? Why did you just disappear?" I yelled " I was worried sick!" He looked at me as if nothing had happened Then looked back at the little boy and said " Look who I found." "Dad who is that?" I asked "Don't you know your own son? He replied "That's not Tommy. He's at home with his dad remember? Do you feel okay? Lets go home you must be tired." I said.

That was just the beginning of a long journey that we had begun. Never in a million years would I have believed that the little incident in the store would bring us to where we are today. It seemed so innocent but I guess now that I look back hindsight is a 20 20. All the little things he would do. All the little things he would forget now don't seem that little. If only I knew then what I know now maybe I could have helped him. Maybe I could have changed things if I had just paid a little more attention or spent just a little more timeÐ'...

My dad was always a healthy man. When the incident at the store had happened, I thought nothing of it. There were days he would just get angry and start to blame me for petty things. Every Saturday we would go fishing. Fishing was our time for bonding, we would catch up on things and talk about mom. This Saturday was different. I had went into the living room and asked, "Dad, are you ready to go fishing?" "I don't feel like fishing, it's senseless and a waste of time!" he had replied. I went into my room and told my husband what had just happened. Tom had told me not to worry and that dad might have just been sleepy and was probably sad about mom's passing. Lately my dad had been acting so strange and we never thought that he was ill, all we could say is that he was restless and depressed about mom dying.

It had been about a month and a half since the incident in the store. Today he had done it again. This time he had disappeared and was found down the street at a restaurant that he and mom would go to. "father! What in the world are you doing here?" I had asked in a worried confused way. Dad had replied, "I'm meeting Sarah and she's late." "Dad, mom passed a year ago, come on, lego home and its getting late." Again I had ignored the true reason why dad had been acting strange. On the way home I had thought of many reasons why he acted these mysterious ways. It had only been a year since mom had died and it was possible dad had been in denial of her death. Finally I had taken enough of dad's behavior. It had been two weeks since I had found dad in the restaurant. Now dad was calling me mom's name and sometimes he would act as though he did not even know me. On some days when I would do the daily laundry, I would see that his bed sheets were wet and sometimes there were wet clothes in the hamper.

One day I had decided to take my father to the doctor, he had been sleeping more than usual. I had told the doctor of all the things my father had been doing and how I thought he just might be depressed from moms passing. Doctor Shorter told me she would do what she could to find out what was wrong. After the visit to the doctor's office, dad had began to act more strangely. Soon I had begun to help feed, bathe, and dress my father. Sometimes it was complicated and other days I would not think anything of it. One day we were sitting at the table and he had started