How many times have you said, “At least I will always have the memories”?

I know I have said it a number of times in my 47 years.

But it turns out that statement is not true because of a horrible disease called Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s robs a person of lifelong memories.

As a person ages no one wants to think their loved ones could be losing their minds/memories. But it happens!

The key to helping your loved ones is to pay attention to things they are doing and get them to a doctor if you notice something strange.

The sooner your loved one gets put on medication the sooner it will slow the depletion of their memories.

This happened in my family. About 12 years ago I was noticing my best friend and mother-in-law was changing and could not figure out what was going on.

I researched and even called her doctor to explain what I was seeing at home.

I even talked to her about the changes I was seeing in her. She denied having any problem at all.

She is one of the smartest women I know. Alzheimer’s is strange because you cannot prove a diagnosis without doubt until death.

Imagine putting all your memories in a box and shaking the box, then start pulling out one part of a memory and then another part of a different memory and putting them together.

What do you get?

Your loved one is positively sure she/he is right! There is no changing her mind unless you have proof.

She finally decided to get help when she left the gas on the stove on all night long. Yes, God was not ready for my in-laws.

We could smell gas all the way to my house about 50 yards away. It was so bad I got an instant headache.

I thought we had a gas leak until I walked in my in-laws house and found the stove on.

The next morning while drinking coffee I explained that we needed to talk about a serious problem.

I asked my mother-in-law if she remembered what happened the day before. I explained if someone had caused a spark of some kind, it would have blown up the house with Poppa and her in it.

That is when she agreed for the first time to let me go to the doctor with her. We went that morning and once we explained what had happened, the doctor said he felt it was time to start taking Aricept. Now, we wish we had got her on medicine years earlier.

When you hear that someone has Alzheimer’s, don’t think they are in the final stages of the disease. Just be aware that the person might be confused at times or get their stories mixed up, etc.

A person with Alzheimer’s has a short attention span. Any trauma or problems in the person’s life can set a person back. Hurricane Rita caused one of the first setbacks, because we had to bring her to our house while they had no electricity.

It took us about three months to get her back on the right path. Then she had open heart surgery, another setback. It is one thing after another.

I am writing this in hopes that it helps someone else with their loved one who might be doing strange things that are out of character. Sept. 21 is National Alzheimer’s Day, and our goal is to paint the Miss-Lou purple, by wearing purple shirts.

If you do not have anything purple, you can go to http://bit.ly/mRySV3 and purchase a shirt, and the money goes toward our team.

On Oct. 22, Natchez is hosting the second annual walk to end Alzheimer’s.

If you would like to have a team or make a donation please contact Alicia Havard at 601-442-5903 or myself at 601-597-4705 or by e-mail at frankpamela@bellsouth.net.

Pam Frank is a Natchez resident.