Mary's Place

A web page about the life of a lady who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

Name:
Location: Piedmont, Oklahoma, United States

I live in Piedmont, OK, with my Husband of 50 years who has been very supportive. We have 2 sons,David and Kenny, 6 grandkids, and 6 great grandkids. I enjoy feeding and watching the birds and squirrels. Before I was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, I ran a Licensed Day Care Home for Infants for 15 years. I noticed I wasn't able to remember important things and having problems with my speech. I was experiencing severe headaches. I would get lost. I didn't know how to use the computer. At the age of 55, I told my doctor. I was sent for an MRI. which showed a large amount of shrinkage. I went to a neurologist who sent me for two days of testing. I was diagnosed with dementia of the Alzheimer's type. My husband and I were both in shock. I had to give up my job. I went to see a social worker. I've taken Aricept for 11 years. I can now use the computer and even do this web page. I also host a chat room for dementia patients. This is a very lonely disease. I don't want anyone to feel as lonely as I did when I was diagnosed (I thought I was the only one over 50 that had Alzheimer's). In 2006 I started taking Namenda. Also I was told I have a mixed dementia, Alzheimer's/Vascular.

Monday, October 31, 2005

Happy Halloween!!! We got some rain last night. The first in a long time… I picked up around the house, dusted, and hosted two chats… We had several meadowlarks in our back yard this evening… Dave fixed his famous Spam Supreme for supper. Yummy… The little trick or treater’s started to arrive at 5:45… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Dave fixed us a delicious western omelet for breakfast and we laid in bed and watched the Sunday morning TV shows and drank coffee… I stripped the beds and thought about putting on the flannel sheets but think I will wait awhile before doing that… I rode my bike for a mile and a half and burned up 20 calories. LOL… I fed the pansies and all the other blooming flowers. The roses are still blooming as are the? Oh shoot, my mind just went blank. I can’t bring up the flowers I was trying to think of. It will come to me later… Okay it is Geraniums, Crown of Thorns, and Passion Flower…. The joints in my hands, feet and legs are sure hurting today I bet we are going to have some rain… I hosted chat and did laundry… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Saturday, October 29, 2005

Dave and I watched the OU/Nebraska game and the Sooner’s won… Dave planted all the pansies for me and I supervised. I wasn’t able to stay out for long because of the wind, it hurts my ears… I called our niece Barbara in Indiana. She was going to go visit Everett and Ruth’s grave. Everett was my brother and Ruth was his wife. I sure miss Everett and Ruth… I was riding my stationery bike this morning and looking at my doll collection. I have all my dolls but one. I don’t have Daisy anymore and I miss her. She was a favorite one and one of the more expensive ones that I had given to my Mother when she came to visit me in 1995. I was hoping she would be returned to me when Mom passed away… I fixed supper and hosted chat… I brought the Amaryllis in from outside… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Friday, October 28, 2005

We had a great time at Kenny and Kathy’s last night. It was so good to spend time with them again. Laughing with them and getting their hugs made for a perfect day… We now have 300 members in DASN International, http://www.dasninternational.org. We have come a long way since we started in 2000. At that time I was one of 11 members… I had a phone call from David and he let me talk to Madison. Madison is quite a little talker now. I thanked her for my beautiful turtle picture that she colored for me and told her it was on the refrigerator… Dave and I went to town to pick up a few groceries and Dave needed some more fuel for his model airplanes. I got two flats of Pansies. I love Pansies and they bloom all winter and into spring… I fixed supper and paid bills… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Happy Birthday Kathy!!! Kathy is our daughter-in-law in Piedmont, Oklahoma… I did laundry, picked up around the house, and cleaned the bathrooms… Kenny called and invited us up tonight for birthday cake… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Kathy and Birthday Cake

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Before we left for Texas I went to visit Dr. Baugh, my asthma doctor and everything was fine. She gave me a pneumonia shot. That was my first one ever. No complications at all from it… I have mostly rested today. I think the trip is really catching up with me… I was hosting chat today when it broke. I notified Derek and he was able to fix it for us right away. The chat room is all of the support that many of us with Alzheimer’s and other dementia’s have. The link for the chat room is: http://www.alzinfo.com/community/chatrooms/ I had a phone call from Martha… This evening I watched a video” Meet The Parents” and I will have to say it made me nervous… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Happy Belated Birthday to Lela in Florida, Linda in Ohio, Joe in California, Claude in Canada, Virginia in Oklahoma, Teresa in Missouri, Maxine in Florida… Happy Belated Anniversary to Janey and Norb in Illinois and Alfred and Martha in Oklahoma…
Dave and I returned from our wonderful vacation yesterday afternoon. We were very tired but so happy to be back home and so were the dogs. No more leashes for them… We had a wonderful visit with Tom and Karen in Ft. Worth and a nice steak dinner at their beautiful home. On Friday Tom and Karen took us to Brain Health Café in Dallas where we met up with Ben, Bethel, Dickie and Garnette… After the meeting we all went to lunch at a nice Barbeque place and then over to see where Ben and Bethel live. I finally got to see Ben’s nice landscaping work… We left Ft. Worth on Saturday and went to Austin to see Brenda and Stacy. Brenda is a cousin and I hadn’t seen her since she was a teenager back in the sixties… I went to Mass with Brenda and Stacy while Dave rested and then after Mass we had a nice Spaghetti supper at the church… We left Stacy and Brenda’s beautiful home on Sunday and went to San Antonio to the Travelers World RV Park. We spent a week there and every afternoon we went downtown to spend time and have dinner with our ADF friends. There was Janey from Illinois, Becky and Sally from California, Marie from Florida, Glenna from Canada, Aunt Flo, Bob and Betty Sue, Sis, June, Pat, and Robert and Mary Ann from Texas… It was so nice to see everyone, especially Aunt Flo… I am always sad to leave San Antonio. It is such a fun place to visit… We left San Antonio on Sunday and spent the night in Iowa Park visiting and having dinner with Lynne and Larry… We thought we were going to have to get a loan before we made it home. We paid as high as $3.29 a gallon for diesel… I have been doing laundry since we got home. I only have one more load to do and I will have caught up… Dave has been busy unloading the motor home and winterizing it… Kenny came down to visit us last night... Aunt Flo called this morning saying that she is missing us. We miss her and all of our other friends… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma


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Wednesday, October 12, 2005

I have had a very busy day. So this will be short as I am very tired… I am shutting my computer down soon. This will be my last journal until I return from Texas… Please hold all my emails until I return. Thank You… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

I received a nice letter from Lynn, a school friend in South Dakota. I was so happy to hear that she is feeling much better… I hosted chat for the last time this afternoon for a while. My friend Carolyn in Canada will be taking over for me while I am away. Thank you Carolyn… I have been a busy person getting last minute things done for our trip on Thursday… Tomorrow we have to go to Tinker to get our drugs and will meet up with David there to buy his birthday shoes. I have already gotten Kenny’s taken care of. Going to Tinker will be an all day thing… I did laundry and helped fix supper… I did take some time out to enjoy the day and watch the butterflies. It got up to 73 degrees today. We are out of birdseed so haven’t seen many birds lately. We will be sure and get some soon… Dave and I had a bowl of ice cream out on the patio and watched Josh and Heather get off the school bus… It is dark and I feel like I should be going to bed… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Monday, October 10, 2005

Columbus Day… No mail today… Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian friends…
We all had a good time last night with Kenny and family. I probably ate too much… I did laundry, hosted chat, and help fix supper. When Kathy our daughter- in- law called Molly Maids she found out they had messed up. The owner says she had someone else taking care of business while she is waiting for a new baby and they messed up big time… So they will clean Kathy’s house this Friday and when I return home from our trip they will clean our home. That is a big relief to know that they didn’t quit us. There is no way that Dave and I can keep up this big house all by our selves… The leaves are starting to turn right in front of my eyes… David called… Tonight is Seventh Heaven on TV… Martha just called and she and Alfred just are happy to be home... Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Sunday, October 09, 2005

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KENNY!!!
Kenny is our youngest son who lives in Piedmont, Oklahoma… We have been loading up the motor home and getting ready for Texas. I think now all we need to add is groceries and last minute things. That takes a load off my mind…. I cleaned a bathroom and did laundry… Tonight we are going out to eat Chinese with Kenny, Kathy, Josh, and Heather… Then we will go back to their house for cake. Yummy, I have been so hungry for a piece of birthday cake… David and Lori went with their Mini Cooper friends on the Talihina drive… I called Aunt Flo tonight and she is looking forward to our visit… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Saturday, October 08, 2005

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVID!!!
David is our son in Norman, Oklahoma… The maids never did show up so that leaves Dave and I having to do our cleaning today. It doesn’t take much for me to get tired. I dusted and that wore me out… I will call Molly Maids Monday and see why they didn’t show. They will probably tell me that I had the wrong day but I know I didn’t… Josh came down and watched the OU/Texas game with me. Oklahoma lost but it was nice having him watch it with me. I have had two disappointments in two days. The Red Sox’s, my favorite baseball team lost yesterday too… Josh had no idea how loud his grandmother could yell. LOL… It has been another beautiful fall day… We watched the Gaither’s on TV tonight. Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Friday, October 07, 2005

I got up earlier than usual to finish getting ready for the maids. I never know what time they will show up and sure don’t want them catching me in bed. I had nightmares last night so I was more than ready to wake up this morning… I have been sitting in my chair looking out the window at the woods just knowing it won’t be long till the leaves will turn and drop off the trees. But any more the time goes by so fast I know in no time the leaves will be back. So many people dread this time of year but not me, I enjoy the change of seasons… It was a beautiful day, 65 degrees and plenty of sunshine. I saw many monarchs today. I love watching the flying flowers… It is getting late, the sun has set and the maids still haven’t showed up. I hope they come before my bedtime… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Brrrrrrr it is cold outside. It got down in the forty’s today, wind chill factor in the 30’s. What a change from yesterday’s high 80’s… I brought in my outdoor plants, did laundry and picked up around the house. Getting ready for the maids visit tomorrow. It has been a long time since they have been here. I have been trying to cut costs so we can afford diesel for our trip next week… We are going to Dallas/Fort Worth to meet up with Tom, Garnette, and Ben and their spouses. They are all DASNI friends and we will all attend the Brain Health Café in Dallas. Then we will go to San Antonio to meet up with many ADF friends. They all have some association to Alzheimer’s. Also, we will be visiting Aunt Flo and taking her out to meet our ADF friends again… I am getting excited but yet nervous about what all needs to be done before we leave… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

This is last night's post. Blogger was down so I wasn't able to post it.

Last night when I was in chat Josh was looking over my shoulder and watched me type in a wrong word. He corrected me before I posted it. I told him that is what people with Alzheimer’s do. They think they are typing the right word but something else shows up. He said that is why you have me. I love that boy… Jaunita called and said that the guy who bought our old home was moving out… I was watching our flag this afternoon as the winds went from south to north and the temperature went down from then on… I fixed lunch and the rest of the day I loafed… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

We saw five deer last night…
It has been a very warm October day but the weathermen are saying it is going to be a different story tomorrow… People will tell me they are going to come see me and never show up. They must think I will forget but I don’t and it is very disappointing to me when they do that… I had a call from Martha this morning. They had some motor home problems and slowed their trip down a couple days but they are fixed down and are on the road again. I sure am missing them… I did laundry and folded and put it all away. I spent some time outside enjoying nature… I am still hosting chats twice a day until Lynn and Alan return… I called Tom and Karen in Texas… Tonight Dave and I watched a video “Mrs. Doubtfire” I have watched it before but still enjoyed it the second time around… Kenny and Josh came down tonight… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Monday, October 03, 2005

I planted hollyhock seeds and ended up sitting outside for the longest time. Just enjoying the beautiful day, watching the clouds, the butterflies, and birds and while I was out there Josh and Heather got off the bus and I waved at them… Chat was really good this afternoon. We had a large crowd including Chip from Florida. Everyone was happy to see him join in… I had a phone call from Carole in Missouri… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Sunday, October 02, 2005

I watched a TV movie, hosted chats, paid bills, played dominoes, worked in the flower garden, and fixed supper… There were a lot of butterflies out today… I had a phone call from Jeanne in Hawaii… I have been watching the neighborhood kids out the window riding their four wheelers. Some are so young it makes this grandma nervous… We walked up to Kenny and Kathy’s tonight. Kathy installed a wireless card in my computer. Heather got her progress report and showed it to me. Great job Heather… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Saturday, October 1, 2005
It’s a brand new month. We got some much-needed rain last night… I got caught up with the laundry, hosted chats, and picked up around the house… I went outside for a while and watched the butterflies. Knowing that they won’t be around for much longer… David called… I have felt jittery all day. I watched a baseball game and my team lost. Now I am hoping my football team doesn’t lose… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Saturday, October 01, 2005