6 months in

In our first appointment with the UBC (University of British Columbia) Alzheimer's clinic, the appointment takes all day.

Verbal testing:

What day is it? 

Do you know your name? 

Who is the current Prime Minister?

Count backwards from a hundread in increments of 7 (I know, this is a hard one).

Then they do mental testing: 

Draw a clock.

Copy a square box. 

Afterward she is very proud that she answered the questions correctly (well, most of them). 

At the end of the day our last appointment is with the specialist (I think he is brilliant). 

Earlier on I did not want to hurt her feelings so I never brought up "having Alzheimer's" in front of her, but I had limited time with this doctor so I just blurted out my question with my mom sitting next to me:

"Doctor, can you tell me exactly what is going to happen here? What can I expect the progression of her disease to be exactly?"

He looked at me matter-of-factly:

"Well, for the next 18-24 months you can expect much of the same as she is now. She can dress, toilet, feed herself. 

Around 24 months she will start having trouble with turning on faucets, and using simple appliances. She will begin to need help dressing and caring for herself, she will have some issues with incontinence. 

At the 36 month mark, she will need round the clock care. She might not remember words, she will spend a lot of time in bed, and have significant issues with incontinence. 

At 48 months, will be bedridden, unable to feed herself and will be bound to a wheel chair and completely incontinent." 

I thanked him for his time and we walked out of his office.

Ouch, I was trying to digest what I just heard. 

How had my mom interpreted what he said? I didn't know but I was worried she was upset...I didn't say anything.

As we turned the corner to head out of the building she laced her arms through mine and said brightly: "Well, I think that went really well, what do you think?" 

I said "Yes, mom it did" barely able to get the words out. 

I was happy she didn't realize what was going on. She thought things were perfect because she answered most of the questions correctly.

She didn't know, or she didn't realize what was happening and that relieved me for her sake - for our sake.

I on the other hand was a mess.

A few months later, the company I was working for shut down. I decided if I only had two "good" years with my mom I was going to make them count.