I don’t know about you, but I knew next to nothing about Alzheimer’s when my mom was diagnosed with the disease. I never knew anyone else who had it and like so many, I thought it was just about memory loss.
I learned so much over the ten years that my mom lived with the disease. While I’m grateful that I learned these lessons before it was too late, I wish someone would have told me about them sooner.
If I had known more of what to expect, I wouldn’t have wasted so much time and energy trying to figure it out myself. I would have been able to focus that time and energy on my mom and our relationship. I would have cherished what I still had and made the absolute most of our situation.
Maybe you don’t have anyone in your life to tell you these things either. But you do have me.
So, here are 6 things I wish I would have known when my mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s:
1. I wish I would have known that she would lose more than just her memory.
2. I wish I would have known that the changes wouldn’t happen overnight.
3. I wish I would have known that many of the things I spent hours worrying about would never actually happen.
4. I wish I would have known that I would still want to remember this part of our story.
5. I wish I would have known that we could still have a beautiful and meaningful relationship in spite of her having Alzheimer’s.
6. I wish I would have known that everything I was feeling—guilt, grief, anger, resentment, hopelessness—was normal.
I know everyone’s experience is different. This is based solely on my own experience with the disease.
What’s something you would add to this list?
*If this post resonated with you, you should check out my mentoring services for Alzheimer’s daughters.
**If you liked this post, you would love my book “When Only Love Remains: Surviving My Mom’s Battle with Early Onset Alzheimer’s.” It’s available on all Amazon marketplaces.
