FINDING HUMOR IN ALZHEIMER’S

I have a friend whose father is in a slow and steady decline into the Alzheimer’s world.  Since he lives with her, sometimes it’s difficult for her to see how he has deteriorated, and while she doesn’t discuss him often, she’ll occasionally tell me stories.   More often than not, the stories aren’t good, but every now and then, she finds the humor in his disease.  This story that she told me yesterday, I just had to share.

My friend was actually out of town, so her sister took her father to a doctor’s appointment.  The doctor was giving him some simple tests, just to see how far the disease had progressed.  He held up a pen and asked him what he was holding up.  “A pen,” my friend’s father answered.  Next, the doctor pointed to my friend’s father’s watch and asked him what that was called.  “A watch,” he said.  Lastly, the doctor asked him what the time was that was on his watch.  He answered with the correct time, then turned to my friend’s sister in complete seriousness and said, “We need to get the hell out of here.  This guy’s my doctor and he doesn’t even know what a pen and a watch are!”

Here’s hoping you can find some humor in whatever difficulties you might be going through!

Karen