28 - Sunday, August 12, 1990 ~ North Shore News

Alzheimer’s is the ultimate heartbreak

Researchers puzzled
over debilitating disease Godley

FROM THE very first of these columns, my love letters to
the elderly, | have been goaded by the knowledge that !
must come to grips with Alzheimer’s disease. It’s the one
for me that is the ultimate heartbreak, coming as it does in
the ripeness of our years. Here we are, looking forward, at
last, to sheer enjoyment of our years together, giggling at
the good stuff, groaning at the immature and clumsy. The
best of it we'll use to decorate ourselves with for the time

of our life that is left to us.

And then one of us shows the
symptoms that will wipe out ail
possibility of sharing the richness
we've Stored up.

lts onset is apparently totally
random and becomes irreversible
when it chances to appear. Not
enough is yet known of its origins.
{fs it genetic? Is it connected to
diet? What about aluminum? We
are continually heartened by the
quiet news that cancer can be
beaten, that osteoporosis can be
fought, that diabetes yields more
and more frequently to tolerable
lifestyles, that symptoms of
Parkinson’s disease can be some-
times minimized. But Aizheimer’s,
a disease of the brain and
therefore even more terrifying by
being classified as dementia, re-
mains implacable, uncompromis-
ing.

For people of our generation,
brought up under the ‘‘seen-but-
not-heard’’ dictum, there is insuf-
ficient background knowledge to
help diagnostically. When our
grandparents, our great grand-
parents, died, autopsies were not

customary, and those old folks
who died without obvious scarlet
fever or influenza were simply
described as having died of old
age. There begin to be some en-
couraging signs of possible
breakthroughs on susceptibility —
we must put our trust in the sort
of clever people at our University
of B.C. who are constantly study-
ing Alzheimer’s. God speed the
work.

That old-fashioned reticence be-
tween generations sets up more
than one roadblock for the
researchers. We simply did not
question our older family
members about anything but
“‘what was it like when you were
little?”? No one spoke the word
*‘cancer.’’ No one knew the word
‘*Alzheimer’s.””

So really, all we know about
being old and living to our best
age at this time is that lean is a
good idea, stress is to be avoided,
regular exercise is desirable,
moderation in use of alcohol is
recommended, and smoking is
out. And that following this ad-

Security criticized

From page 27

Rome has submachine guns and
trained dogs, helicopters with
sharpshooters around the perime-
ter and remote-controlled water
guns that can blast through bag-
gage to destroy electronic circuits.

I’ve always had the suspicion
that countries are far more con-
cerned with what’s coming into
the country than what’s going out.

iS
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a terrorist or a bomb. How much
do we really know about what’s
on board our aircraft?

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weekend.

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THE VINTAGE YEARS

mirable regimen will in no way
guarantee that you escape the
awful sentence of dementia.

The sentence falls on both
partners. One is the victim, the
other becomes the responsible
guardian. This is inevitable,
because the disease unhinges, it
unravels the the cells that make
connections and causes loss of
memory. Not just memory of the
right word, or the name of that
chap with the red hair, or what
you came in here to pick up, but
basic memory. Memory of how to
tie shoelaces, of how to use a fork
and knife, of what a letter-opener
is for, of the names and faces of
one’s own family members.

Not all family doctors are fa-
miliar enough with the disease to
diagnose, but referral is available,
and sometimes CAT scans are
helpful. Sometimes the verdict of
‘“‘senility’’ is used, and that’s
when you seek further help. The
progress of the disease varies from
very rapid to very tardy, and some
patients will last for years in a
moderate state.

One manifestation that creates
its own panic is the need of the
patient to walk. Some must march
around ceaselessly, some go out
into the street, awakening the fear
that they will be lost, or hurt. A
very neat service has been estab-
lished for this scary situation:

“Kompufind”’ furnishes either a
bracelet or tags that are perma-
nently imprinted with a 24-hour
emergency telephone number.
That number will gain access to
the ‘‘Kompucode’’ which has the
wearer’s name and address and
the nature of his illness, making
identification immediate. It saves
hours, sometimes days, of agoniz-
ing search. Some people dislike
the bracelet feeling, so the public
and police are getting used to
checking for the tags.

Sometimes a fall will go
unremarked, as victims of demen-
tia often don’t mention pain, as
they don't mention hunger, or
thirst. Thus a fracture can be ex-
acerbated, dehydration and
depression can inflict further
damage.

For the person in charge, infi-
nite patience and = unremitting
vigilance are constantly demand-
ed. Because the Alzheimer suf-
ferer’s connections are damaged,
the same question can be asked 10
times in a row, the same accusa-
tions of unfairness can be levelled
repeatedly, canons of polite
behavior are shed, and for the
care-giver to stand up under it all
takes monumental sympathetic
understanding, and boundless
love.

As is true with all our human
crises, there is an organization of
people ready to help the care-giver
understand the difficulties, and to
help the ilf person have a change
of scene. Those with like respon-
sibility can share solutions and
support mechanisms, or have a
day or respite. The patients can
join in exercise games, read and
talk and walk, and share a meal
and a ride that may relax them.
When it gets too much for the
spouse, there are residential cen-
tres such as Cedar View Village,
here in North Vancouver,
distinguished by its ‘‘walking
garden’’ of especially compas-
sionate design.

There is a mountain of litera-
ture available, including a book
called The Thirty-Six Hour Day.
It was compiled by Nancy L.
Mace, an assistant in the Depart-
ment of Psychiatry at Johns

Hopkins University School of
Medicine, and Dr. Peter Rabins,
also of that school, a geriatric
psychiatrist.

It’s an exhaustive job of work,
outlining in careful detail every
aspect of Alzheimer behavior, and
covering the infinite range of situ-
ations and reactions that will
come up in caring for these pa-
tients. The authors recognize the
frustrations and anger that will
make life difficult for the care-
giver, but go to great trouble to
explain and qualify the possible
reasons for tantrums and agp-
gressive hostility called
catastrophic response. The book
also lists other material written for
the layman that will console and
inspire under the awful stress of
constant care.

Miracles are performed these
days, though, by medical
replacements of everything from
the pancreas gland to a set of
teeth. And research is one area, as
for AIDS, or the growth hor-
mone, or artificial protein, may
turn up the vital connection that
applies to the secret of
Alzheimer’s.

The main Alzheimer Society for:
the province is located in the
SeaBus terminal on Cordova
Street, and their aim is to have
satellite centres in every communi-
ty in British Columbia. They need
money, having no provincial
funding, and they need volunteers
for the multitude of demands for
help and advice. They are endless-
ly. working on our behalf for both
those things.

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