I am constantly surprised by what a foul mouth Mom has developed. This sweet-natured woman who taught me to watch my manners and never accepted swear words in her house now swears with abandon. I know this is the effect of Alzheimer’s. The language control centers of the brain are impacted adversely by dementia so that Mom has trouble choosing her words. Her sentences are strung together haphazardly as she often can’t explain what she really means. Alzheimer’s also affects th

The day my brother Simon left, Mom threw a temper tantrum when she and my dad were out enjoying an afternoon stroll. She used the foulest of language towards him and refused to walk home with him. Daddy managed to convince her to follow him, but her anger persisted all the way into the apartment. Was there a connection between Mom’s outbursts and Simon’s departure? There’s no real way to know, but perhaps Mom was telling us how much she misses him as best she can. Not that sh

We took Simon out to a fancy restaurant to celebrate his impending 50th birthday. We had a laugh-filled evening, despite it being harder and harder to take Mom out to eat. Mom can’t always remember how to use a fork or knife, or eat a sandwich, or she removes parts of the meal from the plate claiming it belongs to someone else. She purses her lips when we try to help and pronounces loudly that she is not a child. We try to placate her as best we can. My dad, Simon and I remin