March Basketball Madness-An Azheimer's Family Event

We have always been a "sports" family, whether it was the Packers, the Badgers or the Braves, (yes the Braves used to be in Wisconsin!) and we rooted them on because they were "our" teams. Mom always loved watching and cheering for them and taught me to do the same. The last few years, my grandson Logan has put together a bracket competition for the NCAA tournament. This year was no exception. Yesterday I took over the bracket when I went to see Mom and we went through the match ups. Last year she would ask me who was favored to win. Her Dementia has progressed, however, beyond being able to do this, so this year, I volunteered in each pair, who was the favored of the two. Now I expected her to just choose the favorites, but she surprised me. Any team which had a "catholic name" she chose, thus she chose St. Mary's, an upset today, and Notre Dame, who got upset today. She seemed to enjoy choosing. She also enjoyed it when I called Logan to get the bracket input information and had to get further input advise from my son. She really loved it when I mentioned this had become a 4 generation project. We had a blast and will continue to discus how well (or poorly) we have done for the next 3 weeks.

Adapting and simplifying tasks and projects will help you to share your life with your loved one and replicate the life your loved one would have had if they had not gotten the disease. We want to do this at a level which is manageable for them. Time spent with them can be more fun, and probably more stimulating for them. How can we make the experience "failure free"? How can we include others in the family? How can we do it in a way which they can handle, but still participate? All questions we can ask our selves, and when answered, can make a fun, interesting experience for all without a huge amount of effort.

Mom and I want to thank my son, Jonathan and my grandson, Logan for making this experience possible and fun. It's another step in the Alzheimer's journey made positive. Thanks to both of you!!

May God hold you in the palm of Her hand.