Alzheimer
AlzheimerThe Care It Takes
Taking care of an elderly person can be a difficult thing to, do especially when they have a disease called Alzheimer's. According to the Encarta Encyclopedia, "Alzheimer's is a disease marked by progressive loss of mental capacity." This is the exact problem that the Grandfather, Michael McMahon, has in the story Grand Opening. It is not easy living with someone who has Alzheimer's. The novel shows many examples of how hard it is to live with someone with the disease and all of the extra care you have to put forth.
A person who has Alzheimer's has a major problem remembering things. When the family was moving from Minneapolis to the small town of Plum, the Grandfather was very confused. During the entire trip they had to keep reminding him where they were going, even though they just told him where they were going five minutes ago. This is a burden on the family because they have to keep repeating themselves. No one likes to repeat themselves over and over again. The first night that they were in their new home, the Grandfather was so disorientated. Even after he was put to bed, he would repeatedly downstairs and ask Hank and Catherine where he was.
The second day in town, the grandfather did something that no one could believe. He just awoke form his nap when he heard a noise that was very familiar to him. It was the sound of a train whistle. He ran running to the window and saw the smoke from a train headed toward town. A memory was triggered in his head and he went running from the house toward the train. While running to the train, he started to think back to when he used to work on the train. He was tried to remember all of the people he knew that would be working on this line. This is a perfect example of a person that has Alzheimer's. They have flash backs and think that they are back in the past, instead of being in the present.
When he finally caught up to the train, he climbed on the locomotive and introduced himself to the engineer. He was immediately escorted off of the locomotive. He then walked to the back of the train and climbed aboard the caboose, climbed up to the brakeman's high seat and fell asleep, only to awake to the whistle of the train. He tried to collect his wits, but could not remember what train run he was on, since he did not recognize any of the material in the car, nor whom it belonged too. By the time he climbed down and went to the rear platform, the train was already underway. He stood on the rear platform and waved to everyone he passed, including two ladies. One...
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