The 36 Hour Day

Another journey I have taken with loved ones was my mother’s journey with Alzheimer’s. At first I didn’t understand the disease. I didn’t really understand she even had the disease in the early days.

I remember when I would call home and talk to my parents every Sunday morning, and she would tell me about going out to get the paper, and locking herself out of the house. I told her “There is probably something wrong with the lock, you need to have someone check the door.” Her reply was, “No, there’s nothing wrong with the lock. I think it’s me.” She said it lightheartedly with humor. She wasn’t angry about it, wasn’t upset about it.

Someone told us about a book called the “36 Hour Day” that told about Alzheimer’s. We read it and it helped us to understand this disease better, the decisions that had to be made, and the stages we see as mom progressed through this disease.