Alzheimer's 'Feelings of Loss' Transcript
Ellen: It's a very lonely thing, when you're caring for someone. The person that you have known and loved is slowly going from you, so the person that you are living with is not the same, is not the same, it's not the sharing that you have - you can't get as involved as you used to. So it's very, very lonely. They call it the long goodbye, and that's just what it is.
Allan: James and I used to joke over the years that illnesses happen to patients, to other people but didn't really happen to doctors. And it was the first time I'd ever really been touched by someone with dementia, personally. And I knew that he, you know, before too long, he wouldn't be able to recognise myself or others and Jan became much more of a focus of attention for me.
James: I want to work. Doctor.
Jan: It's really sad, watching your best friend and you know, your person you've been closest to just disappear.
Anne: I really went through a grieving process for my husband because basically my husband is gone. There is a person living in his body but it's not the person I married. He's not my partner, he's someone I care for but I am basically alone.
Jim: There are moments when your whole life feels the bottoms dropped out of it. But they only last for moments, tomorrow still comes up.
Gwen: I'm trying to prepare myself now so that I can do as much for myself as I can without having anyone to live with me or for me to have to go into a home. I don't want to go into a home.
Anne: Our youngest child started school and this was the year that I was going to go back to work part time, get enough money, do the renovations on the house that we wanted to do. Now I'm faced with not being able to go to work because I can't leave him for that many hours of the day.
Jan: The less aware he is of it, the easier it gets for him. The easier it gets for him the harder it gets for me.
