The Beginning

Yesterday, Mike and I were together for 24 years!!!!! Yesterday was the anniversary of our first date together. As I lied next to him last night, I remembered that night all those years ago, and realized that NOTHING is what we had expected it to be. Of course, it was a first date, so I guess at that time we didn't even realize we would ever get married. We had our whole lives ahead of us. The absolute uncertainty of what was ahead of us, was exciting, but Alzheimer's was NEVER something that even entered our minds that night. Ironically, Mike's mom had been acting strange at that time, but it wasn't until December of 1985 that Alzheimer's stormed into our lives. The world as Mike knew it, would NEVER be the same.

Mike's mom was only 45 when she was diagnosed. Her doctor had specialists fly in from Albany to help determine the cause of her unusual behavior. At first they thought menopause, then Crautzfeld-Jacob disease (mad cow), then finally, 5 months after this behavior started, she had a "brain biopsy" performed and she was officially diagnosed with EOAD. Our nightmare had just begun, as did my time together with Mike. Strange how Alzheimer's popped up for the first time in the beginning of our relationship, and how it will remain there until the end.