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.

Friday, June 30, 2006

Shiloh

I woke up early again this morning but at least I didn’t have to rush around and go somewhere… It is hard to believe this month is gone and also half of the year. Where does the time go? … Shiloh slept in her crate all night and we heard not a peep out of her. She is adjusting very well. She is even wagging her tail now… I fixed supper and even made a dump cake.,. David and Lori called and they said that they had a great catfish dinner at the Center Hill Restaurant in Tennessee. We love to go there when we visit Richard. They will be with Uncle Richard until Sunday… Kenny and Heather came down tonight to love on Shiloh… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Happy Birthday Lori!!! Lori is our daughter in Norman, Oklahoma… Happy Anniversary Phil and Diane!!! Diane is a friend in Australia… I got up early again this morning. That makes three days in a row but tomorrow I am sleeping in… David and Lori flew to Tennessee today to visit Dave’s brother then they will rent a car and drive to Georgia and meet up with a bunch of cousins… We took Cindy and Karmelita into the Vet’s to get checked for heartworms and it was negative. Thank God for that. Cindy weighed ten pounds and Karmelita weighed 3 ½ pounds… Then we went to Pets and People to meet Shiloh’s foster mother and to get the paperwork taken care of to adopt her. We brought her home with us and the dogs all seem to get along fine. Shiloh is a very sweet dog and she weighs five pounds… Here is a link to see Shiloh: . It was so good to catch up with her… I did laundry and fixed supper… I have given Shiloh plenty of lap time…http://search.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=6542390 We will give her lots of tender loving care which she needs right now… I had a phone call from Evelyn in Peru, Indiana... Another one of my DASNI friends has started a blog: http://duchessnotes.blogspot.com/ I hope you will check out Duchess’s blog… Kenny and Kathy came down tonight and visited with us on the back porch… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Happy Birthday Linda!!! Linda is our friend in Folsom, California… I have had one busy day. First off I had an early morning appointment with my Asthma doctor. It was for a four month check up. My asthma has flared up again. The doctor gave me a steroid shot and told me to stay on all my allergy medicines and Advair. The good news is I had lost four pounds... We went to Mercy Hospital to visit Lori’s grandmother Maysella. She is doing great for an 87 year old and is really a trooper. She can out do me any day… Then we went to David and Lori’s to pick up a computer David wanted Dave to work on. From there we went by Kohl’s, I needed to pick up a baby gift for our neighbor who had a baby girl recently. We went by Pets and People and it looks like we are going to get Shiloh. We will go by to talk to the foster mother tomorrow right after we take Cindy and Karmelita in for their annual shots. We will see how the dogs get along then. They found out yesterday when they were checking her out before she was spaded that she tested positive for heartworm but they have promised to treat her for that… We stopped by and gave the baby gift to our neighbor Carmen. I got to hold the baby and she is beautiful. Her name is Alexis. This was Mike and Carmen’s first girl and they already have two boys … We had our first squash and zucchini out of our garden tonight. It is so nice to have fresh vegetables from our own garden… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Happy Birthday Sandra!!! Sandra is our friend in Rusk, Texas… I woke up really early this morning to go with Dave to his appointment with the urologist. We came home not knowing anymore than we did. We are just going to believe no news is good news. The doctor still can’t tell us that he has cancer nor can he tell us that he doesn’t. He will remove the stint next week then let Dave rest a month before he does further testing… On our way home from the doctors we stopped at Pets and People to take our minds off stuff and we saw the prettiest longhaired Chihuahua dog. But the dog had several people on a waiting list for her. We got on the list but have little hopes of getting her. The dogs name was Shilo… I have been very tired today, even laid down and took a short nap… After supper I deadheaded the Hibiscus… Kenny came down and visited with us on the back porch… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Monday, June 26, 2006

I got woke up early this morning by a phone call but since I was having a bad dream it was good to be woke up…
Thanks to Jim in Lincoln, Nebraska for visiting Mary’s Place and signing my guest book… I had a call this morning from a friend Doris telling me that Jaunita my friend from our old neighborhood passed away this morning. She has been on my mind a lot lately and thinking I should call her but I have been so wrapped up in what is going on in our household… I took care of the houseplants and fed the flowers and tomatoes… I would like you to visit some of my DASNI friend’s web pages: Cat’s in Missouri www.freewebs.com/kittycat1313 Mary in Canada has a new web page: http://www.simplesite.com/MotherMary and Jeanne in Hawaii: http://groups.msn.com/AlzheimersAwarenessandPreventionLLC/home These are all worth visiting… It was nice and cool outside this evening so Dave and I had our supper out there on the back porch. We were out there for a couple hours just enjoying the birds… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Happy Anniversary Chip and Sharon!!! Chip and Sharon are our friends in Florida… I folded and put away laundry that had been in the dryer since Friday and did another load and got them all put away, fixed lunch, and helped fix supper… It was after four before I took my 2:00 meds. I kept meaning to take them but kept getting distracted. Finally when I was outside deadheading the roses I kept saying out loud don’t forget to take your medicine and that worked. I talk to myself often but I don’t remember answering myself… It is looking like we could get some rain and I hope we do… David called and Kenny came down… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Thanks to Lynne in Iowa Park, Texas for visiting Mary’s Place and signing my guest book…
I woke up this morning thinking it was Sunday and it has seemed like Sunday all day… I rode my scooter up to Kenny and Kathy’s and Kathy gave me a plate of homemade chicken and dumplings and they were really good, just like the ones Mom used to make… While I was out on my scooter I checked on our garden and the corn has tassels. The squash is blooming and the onions are all gone. I have no idea what might have eaten all our onions. Probably the same varmints that ate our lettuce and radishes… I have loafed all day. I did make some nectar for the hummingbirds… Raccoons are eating the birdseed from our feeders so now we have to bring them in every night. We really do love living in the country… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Friday, June 23, 2006

Thanks to Lori in Norman, Oklahoma for visiting Mary’s Place and signing my guest book… This morning it was raining and Dave and I both were sleeping so well when the doorbell rang. It was the maids and they were here about three hours earlier than normal. I wasn’t a happy person for a while but I got over it once our house was nice and clean… We went to Tinker to pick up our meds and then to Best Buy to exchange Dave’s computer, it looks like his first one was a lemon. Best Buy took good care of us… We stopped on the way home and picked up a few groceries at Aldi’s and then went to eat Mexican… Dave is still hurting in his kidney and I can’t help but worry about him… My brother George called to check on Dave and also David called to give us a report on Lori’s granny who fell while working in her garden and broke her leg and hip and they did surgery today. Our prayers go out to Maysella and her family… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Thanks to Susan in Canada, Barbara in Victorville, California, and Colin for visiting Mary’s Place and signing my guest book at http://www.angelfire.com/ok4/mari5113/index.html
We got a good rain during the night and I took advantage of it and pulled some weeds. Since after a rain they were easily pulled but didn’t take long for me to give out. Dave finished the job… Since I have several roses in bloom right now I decided to take some pictures and will try and post some here… I have been picking up and getting ready for the maids visit tomorrow… I am having more trouble trying to find the right words for what I want to say… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Roses and Cindy

My Rose Garden

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Happy Birthday Mary Beth!!! Mary Beth is a friend in Topeka, Kansas… Happy Birthday Robert!!! Robert is our friend in San Antonio, Texas… Happy Belated Anniversary to Jim and Mary in Canada… I was finally able to get back in chat. Boy have I missed chatting with my friends in the chat room… I did laundry and helped with supper… We talked to David, Lori, Madison, and Macey on the phone… I have been having headaches again… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Dave got a call from his doctor and he said that the biopsy was inconclusive. He has an appointment with the doctor next week. When the doctor did the biopsy he told us it could take up to three weeks to get the report back so we are still waiting… I think we have our computer problems finally figured out. It was our phone lines… Tonight I was sitting out on the back porch reading and watching Kenny, Kathy, Josh, and Heather play crochet when I noticed Cindy was after something on the porch. At first I thought it was a frog then I noticed it had way too many legs for a frog. I called Josh and Kenny to come quick. Dave was on the computer. It was a Tarantula. I had never seen one before and I don’t care if I go the rest of my life without seeing another one… I am enjoying my scooter. I have gone up to Kenny’s several times with it… I had phone calls from Chip in Florida and Linda in Oklahoma City… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Happy Father's Day... We were up early on Friday morning for Dave’s surgery. I didn’t sleep well at all, I just kept waking up…It was a very tiring long day. I don’t know what I would have done if Martha hadn’t been with me. She is such a good friend… The doctor told us he wasn’t able to see anything when he looked around in Dave’s kidney. He put a stint in and it is still in there. The biopsy has been sent off and we are back to waiting again. The doctor went ahead and scheduled surgery for this coming Friday. He said that he could always cancel it if the biopsy came back okay… David drove Dave home from the hospital and Martha and I went by the pharmacy to pick up medicines that they had called in for Dave. David stayed with us until he was sure his Dad was going to be okay. He even fixed some grilled cheese sandwiches for us. He made me sit down and told me he would take care of everything. He must have known how tired I was… Yesterday David and Lori took us out to eat at Nona’s Restaurant. It is one of the nicest places in Oklahoma City. It was a late Mother’s Day dinner for me and early Father’s Day dinner for Dave. We really enjoy eating at such a nice restaurant where they treat you like royalty. They also gave each of us a very nice Hallmark card. Thank you David and Lori… I fixed Dave a good old country breakfast… Kenny and Kathy gave Dave an umbrella to fit on his tractor to keep him shaded when he cuts the lawn, peanut butter fudge, and beef jerky. Kenny cut the grass for Dave today… Kathy had us up for a steak supper tonight… Thanks Kenny and Kathy… Helen, one of my school friends in Georgia called to check on us today. She had read about Dave in my journal… I am still having computer problems. I keep getting knocked off line… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Happy Father's Day... We were up early on Friday morning for Dave’s surgery. I didn’t sleep well at all, I just kept waking up…It was a very tiring long day. I don’t know what I would have done if Martha hadn’t been with me. She is such a good friend… The doctor told us he wasn’t able to see anything when he looked around in Dave’s kidney. He put a stint in and it is still in there. The biopsy has been sent off and we are back to waiting again. The doctor went ahead and scheduled surgery for this coming Friday. He said that he could always cancel it if the biopsy came back okay… David drove Dave home from the hospital and Martha and I went by the pharmacy to pick up medicines that they had called in for Dave. David stayed with us until he was sure his Dad was going to be okay. He even fixed some grilled cheese sandwiches for us. He made me sit down and told me he would take care of everything. He must have known how tired I was… Yesterday David and Lori took us out to eat at Nona’s Restaurant. It is one of the nicest places in Oklahoma City. It was a late Mother’s Day dinner for me and early Father’s Day dinner for Dave. We really enjoy eating at such a nice restaurant where they treat you like royalty. They also gave each of us a very nice Hallmark card. Thank you David and Lori… I fixed Dave a good old country breakfast… Kenny and Kathy gave Dave an umbrella to fit on his tractor to keep him shaded when he cuts the lawn, peanut butter fudge, and beef jerky. Kenny cut the grass for Dave today… Kathy had us up for a steak supper tonight… Thanks Kenny and Kathy… Helen, one of my school friends in Georgia called to check on us today. She had read about Dave in my journal… I am still having computer problems. I keep getting knocked off line… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Thursday, June 15, 2006

I am still having trouble staying online, for the past couple days I haven’t been able to stay on long enough to even post a journal… Dave and I have been keeping busy. On Tuesday we got out of the house and ran some errands. That took up most of the day. On Wednesday David and Lori came and brought Madison and Macey, our great granddaughters, to have lunch with us. That made Dave and me very happy. I got lots of hugs and kisses. David brought us some squash from his garden and I fixed it for our supper and it was yummy… Today I picked up around the house, watered houseplants, fixed supper, and did laundry. I washed the mattress cover and sheets… We both love having a nice clean bed to sleep in… Dave went to get pre registered at the hospital and I stayed home to take care of things here… Tomorrow is the day that they do Dave’s biopsy. Martha will be with me tomorrow and she will drive us home from the hospital… We got some good news today; DSL will be at our house soon. We were very happy to hear that… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Monday, June 12, 2006

Thanks to Joann in Welcome, North Carolina for visiting Mary’s Place and signing my guest book…
I would like to thank all of you who have sent us emails. They mean a lot to Dave and me…I have missed a few days of doing a journal… I will try and catch up now… On Saturday Dave and I went to Best Buy and then to the beauty shop where I got a much needed grooming. We then went to David and Lori’s, had a really good visit with them and a nice dinner. After it cooled down some David showed me his garden. It is all in raised beds and it really looks good. Then we all got in our car and drove up to the pasture to look at their cows. David wanted me to see my namesake Mary Edith. She is a pretty calf. All of their cattle look good. David has turned out to be quite a farmer. They also have pigmy goats and Rhea’s on their farm… We are very proud of both our son’s and their wives… Dave and I were out on the back porch last night watching the full moon rise and it was so pretty… We are counting the days until Friday… Norita called and she and Wesley just returned from a Safari trip and it sounded like they had such a great time. It was fun listening to the good times they had on the safari… We woke up to a nice rain this morning. I got out and walked in it… I have been having so much trouble with my online service. I called and canceled AOL and if I had a number for Juno I would cancel them too. I have no patience for this… Kenny and Kathy came down and sat out on the back porch with us. Kathy made us some beef jerky and brought it down. It was almost too chilly to be outside tonight, but I am not complaining… I demonstrated to Kenny and Kathy how I could drive my scooter… Dave talked to his brother George who has cancer and found out the chemo isn’t working and that hospice will be starting tomorrow… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Friday, June 09, 2006

Thanks to Susan in Canada for visiting Mary’s Place and signing my guest book at http://www.angelfire.com/ok4/mari5113/index.html… Last night I went to bed earlier than usual. I had a flare up of Diverticulitis brought on by all the stress I have been under lately. Lucky for me I had Imodium on hand… Kenny and Kathy came down after I had gone to bed. Kathy is a First Assistant Nurse at Mercy Heart Hospital. She talked to me for a long time and explained and answered a lot of questions that was on my mind about what Dave is going through. She also gave me some good hugs and told me they were here for me and we would handle all this together. It is sure nice having a nurse in the family… The name of the cancer that Dave’s doctor is thinking he has is transitional cell carcinoma. I pray it isn’t so… Very hot today, up near 100 degrees… I hosted the evening DASNI chat tonight. If you would like to join our chat for Alzheimer’s and other Dementia’s here is the link: http://www.alzinfo.com/community/chatrooms/ … The moon is sure pretty tonight… Dave showed me a blue bird nest with three eggs and a baby in it… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Happy Belated Birthday Sue!!! Sue is a friend in Canada…
This morning Candace the lady from All American Medical came and brought my electric scooter. Dave had built me a ramp so she drove the scooter into our home. Then she explained to me all about it and had me drive it all over our home. Then I had to show her I could open the front door and storm door and go outside by myself. I dove it up and down our long drive way and around the street in front of our home. She said I did excellent. Now I am waiting for it to get cooler so I can drive up to Kenny’s and around the neighborhood. The neighborhood kids will probably want to race me with their four wheelers. LOL… I did laundry and helped fix supper… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Today has been a very long hard day… Dave woke me up at 8:00 so I could go with him to see the Urologist. We got there and the doctor showed us the Xrays that were taken yesterday when they did the IVP. The doctor showed us a spot that he thought was a tumor on his left kidney… The doctor said he was almost sure it was cancer but has scheduled Dave for tests a week from Friday. This will be done as on outpatient basis. While they are there they will get a biopsy and send it off to be tested… I started crying while the doctor gave us this info. I thought to myself how could he be so frank. The doctor said if it was cancer that it was a very rare one and very mean and they would remove the kidney and part of the bladder to be sure of getting it all… It is a good thing Dave paid attention when he saw pink urine a couple weeks ago. Even though it only lasted for a day. It was good he didn’t ignore it. I would not have let him… When we left the doctor’s office we went to Martha and Alfred’s. I had a birthday gift I needed to give Martha and besides I really needed one of her hugs. While we were there we had lunch with her and I got to hold one of the new puppies… Then we went to the Mall. It was my monthly visit to the mall. Then we went to look at computers at Best Buy. Dave ended up buying a nice desktop. This will be his Father’s Day gift… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Dave went to have his IVP this morning and I slept in. He will see the doctor in the morning for the results of the test. I have been waiting for my scooter all day but it didn’t come so I called about five to check on it and the lady said she just got the fax in from the doctor and that she would delivery it on Thursday morning… I called Josh, he was in the pool with his little brother and it sounded as if they were having a splash. Josh is spending most of the summer with his Mother and Stepfather… I did laundry and fixed supper… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Monday, June 05, 2006

Yesterday I skipped doing a journal because I wasn’t having the best of days and sometimes I haven’t anything to say. Yesterday was one of those days… Today I fed the roses and other flowers. Dave mowed our acreage and ran the edger and weed eater yesterday and it sure looks nice… I am feeling very sorry for Dave as he preps for his IVP in the morning. I am trying not to eat anything in front of him because he can only have clear liquids… Dave and I enjoyed sitting outside this evening, there was enough of a breeze to keep us cool. Later I came in so I could chat with my DASNI friends… I was watching the local news tonight; they were doing a segment on Alzheimer’s. It went in one ear and out the other. I can’t hang on to anything anymore… We are having temperatures in the 90’s again… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Saturday, June 03, 2006

I hosted chat, fixed supper, and caught up on my magazines… I am still very tired… We had planned to go to the mall today but I cancelled that… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Friday, June 02, 2006

It has been a busy day here. First thing was the lady came from All American Medical to evaluate me for an electric scooter. Dr Davoli, my orthopedic doctor sent her out and it looks as if I will be getting my scooter next week. That sure will help with me getting around… Then the Molly Maids came to clean our house. Our house is clean and I did two loads of laundry, all washed, dried and put away. So now maybe I can play this weekend… While the maids were cleaning I sat outside on the back porch watching all the butterflies and birds. It was my kind of day, not too windy or hot… David called and I got to talk to Madison and Macey. Madison was saying “Grandma 3 I love you so doggone much” LOL Macey was trying to talk but still hard to understand what she is saying… I fed the Crepe Myrtles and hosted the evening chat… I am extra tired tonight… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Happy Birthday Norita!!! Norita is my Sister-in-law in Lake Isabella, California… I have been busy today getting ready for the maids visit tomorrow. I picked up, watered indoor plants, did laundry, and read the newspaper… We saw in the newspaper that we had a new Mexican restaurant in town and they were having their grand opening today. We decided to try it out and we are glad we did. The food was great. We took Kathy with us and Kenny met us there after he got off work. They even had live entertainment. I came home with a take home box so now I will have lunch tomorrow… I called Norita… Cindy spotted a turtle in our back yard and she kept barking at it. I was afraid she was going to get bit. The turtle moved on though. Lucky for Cindy… Goodnight All… Keeping The Faith In Oklahoma