Does He Still Know You?

By: Norma Sessions
Alzheimer's disease, Caregiving, Loss and Grief, Love, Marriage, Memory, , , , , 6 Comments on Does He Still Know You?

I’m asked this question more often now. I don’t always know what to say.

Last week, the receptionist at the dentist’s office asked.

I replied, “Sometimes.”

Sometimes there’s a clear look of recognition in his eyes. I’ve known it for decades. It’s Dale looking at Norma, or at least, at someone he loves.

Other times there is no recognition that I can discern. During those times, it seems that I could be anyone as I feed him, help him in the bathroom, put him to bed.

Several years ago, he stopped saying my name. Last year, he told our caregiver that I was his “mommy.” Each shift was disorienting, but his looks of recognition reassured me that I was still someone he knew.

Now these, too, are fading. It feels as though I am leaving his sight, his awareness.

The disease has been separating us for years, removing recent experiences, shared history, common language. Whenever I feel unseen by him, the reality of this separation hits especially hard.

More and more, Dale is on a different path and entering a world that I am not a part of.

It is the most painful part of the journey to this point.

Does he know me? I’m not sure. Sometimes.

I hold on to hope that he knows me in ways I may not be able to discern.

Even more, I hold on to hope that he feels known by me.

Each evening when I help him get back in bed, I pull up his covers and say, “I love you, Dale.”

Last night he replied, “I know it.” I told him I was glad.

Even though Dale may not know me in the ways he used to or in ways that I can see, may he know this: that he is loved.

May he always know he is loved.

Lifted by Love

By: Norma Sessions
Alzheimer's disease, Caregiving, Love, Memory, , 4 Comments on Lifted by Love
Photo: Norma Sessions

When I was a child, our family used to take day trips to the New Jersey shore. I enjoyed playing in the sand and the shallow, foamy water. The waves could be rough, though, and even though I knew how to swim, I was reluctant to venture out far—worried I would get knocked over and never find my way up.

One day my father, who must have been aware of my fear, convinced me to go out with him into deeper water. He led the way, navigating the rolling sea until we were in a calmer place, beyond where the waves break.

Holding both my hands, he let me experience how the ocean would gently lift us up and ease us down. Smiling, he said, “See? It’s so easy! It’s so nice out here…so easy…”

I cherish this memory of my dad, and appreciate its reminders of trust and peace. I can still feel the water lifting us up and easing us down. The memory has been especially comforting to me recently in my care of Dale.

Dale’s moods can sometimes fluctuate abruptly, like waves of rough water that I don’t see coming. His “ocean” of feelings shifts from calm to choppy and then back again with no obvious cause.

I can easily feel knocked over, sand and sea in my nose and mouth, struggling to find my footing and air to breathe. Even though I recognize the disease at work and know ways to cope, I sometimes lose my balance.

However, as in my childhood experience, others are present to help and reassure—through prayers, contacts, visits. They help “right” me, carrying God’s Love and reminding me that even in deeper waters, I am not alone. Love—like the buoyancy of salty ocean—continues to lift me.

“But now thus says the Lord,
    he who created you, O Jacob,
    he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have called you by name, you are mine.
 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
    and the flame shall not consume you.”
Isaiah 43:1 – 2