Our Families Journey Caring for a Mom with FTLD-MND

It is important to know as you read this journal that this was Cathy's life post diagnosis...

To know Cathy Truly you must know that she was: a Wife, Mother of 3 boys, Grandmother of 9, Sister, Niece, Aunt, Daughter, and Friend.

Our families journey began with Cathy's diagnosis the week of Thanksgiving 2006, Cathy was 52. Her original diagnosis was Pick's Disease/FTD. Looking back her symptoms most likely began 3-5 years before diagnosis. Most of the Doctors have told us that from onset of symptoms to death... the average timeframe is 4-7 years. (sigh) In the end her brain autopsy showed Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration with Motor Neuron Disease FTLD-MND. (Basically... Frontal Lobe Dementia with Lou Gehrig's Disease)

Friday, January 4, 2008

Yippee!

I just wanted to share the best 2 Christmas presents I got this year... both related to Cathy.

First: My friend Lynn came home for the Holidays and brought me the best gift ever!! Can you guess what it was???....??? PAPER TOWELS! (Since mine keep mysteriously disappearing since Cathy moved in!) Yippee! :)



Second: When we were up at Mayo before Christmas I lost my van keys... luckily I had the extra set with me. I couldn't figure out where in the world I would have lost them... I called everywhere we ate, the hotel, Mayo, etc... No Luck. Jean had mentioned that Cathy had came in our room that morning while I was in the shower & she searched through my things, I guessed that she was looking for my keys to load her stuff in the van, but I didn't think she had found them... later that day was when I noticed they were missing. I should have known where they were... but I had forgotten Cathy had looked for them. So, I had to come home & tell Brad I lost a set of van keys... he was not a happy camper, after all automatic lock keys are expensive to replace. ~ And then yesterday morning I got a call from Cathy again (call #3 this week) and all she said was, "I found your van keys." I was thinking, could it be true??? I think I might have excitedly screamed Thank You in the phone & she laughed. I asked her if I could talk to Charlene & she couldn't seem to understand that again... but eventually Charlene took the phone & said, "Yep, Cathy found a set of keys in her jacket but I think they are Gayle's." My shoulders dropped... Bummer. I asked, "What does the key chain look like?" Charlene described them & they were mine!! YIPPEE!!!!!!! I know this sounds quite simple & ridiculous! But if you have ever lost your keys... maybe you will understand!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have had an experience with replacing keys with the keyless entry remote. The key itself is expensive, like $75. I didn't have to pay for them since WalMart were the ones to ruin my key orginally. Long story short: it got stuck while trying to make a duplicate so if I ever locked my kids in the van again, during a rainstorm, while the van was running; I would have a spare instead of having to call the cops! Christina

Anonymous said...

Ha ha. Come on, I am sure it was not the BEST gift you received but I am glad you "liked" it! :)