And from what I read, these views are the views of many health care providers as well. For again and again I kept reading that I am a “victim”, that I have been victimized”. I see myself as someone affected by the disease, but I don’t think of myself as a victim. I don’t want to be labeled a victim and I do not feel as if I have been “victimized”.
A View From Within, Thaddeus Raushi, p 63
I am always going to see myself as a person first. . .no one can take that away from me. I wish for each of you, also, that you have the joy of knowing yourself as a “person first” and have not allowed a book or article or person to convince you otherwise.
A View From Within, Thaddeus Raushi, p 66
I would like to convey how I feel toward this disease and how it has affected my life. I constantly have the feeling that I am in slow motion. I not only think slower but I move slower also. I am like the proverbial turtle; I get there just slowly.
The fact that she had Alzheimer's didn't mean that she was no longer capable of thinking analytically. the fact that she had Alzheimer's didn't mean that she didn't deserve to sit in that room among the. The fact that she had Alzheimer's didn't mean that she no longer deserved to be heard.
Still Alice. Lisa Genova, p. 186
Being diagnosed with Alzheimer's is like being branded with a scarlet A. This is now who I am, someone with dementia...But I am not what I say or what I do or what I remember. I am fundamentally more than that....I am not someone who is dying. I am someone living with Alzheimer's. I want to do that as well as I possibly can.
Still Alice, Lisa Genova, p. 252
My yesterdays are disappearing, and my tomorrows are uncertain, so what do I live for? I live for each day. I live in the moment. Some tomorrow soon, I'll forget that I stood before you and gave this speech. But just because I'll forget it tomorrow doesn't mean that I didn't live every second of it today. I will forget today, but that doesn't mean that today didn't matter.
Still Alice, Lisa Genova, p. 253
Any disease that is treated as a mystery and acutely enough feared will be felt to be morally, if not literally, contagious.
Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors, Susan Sontag, p.6
Certainly one of the real fears felt by anyone with Alzheimer’s disease is the fear of failure. I live with the imminent dread that one mistake in my daily life will mean another freedom will be taken from me.
My Journey Into Alzheimer's Disease, Robert Davis
Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we all prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.
Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors, Susan Sontag, p. 3
It is much easier to stay in the safety of my home, than to expose myself to people who don’t understand, people who raise their eyebrows when I have trouble making the right change at the cash register, or when I’m unable to think of the right words when asked a question.
Show Me the Way to Go Home, Larry Rose
I feel that people would rather disable me than enable me to be all that I can be. I feel less attached to my family. Is it me or is it them?
Alzheimer’s from the Inside Out, Richard Taylor
I think one of the worst things about Alzheimer’s disease is that you are so alone with it. Nobody around you really knows what’s going on. And half the time, or most of the time, we don’t know what’s going on ourselves.
A Partial View: An Alzheimer’s Journal, Cary Henderson
Now that I have Alzheimer’s, he wants to take care of me, but sometimes he drives me crazy. I feel like he’s on top of me, asking me if I want lunch before I know I’m hungry! Telling me what to wear and what not to wear, as if I couldn’t get dressed myself.
Before I Forget, B. Smith and Dan Gasby
We need to find the courage to talk about Alzheimer’s, to acknowledge not just the end of this disease, but also the beginning and the middle. We need to change the image of this disease, which tends to depict only an elderly person in end stage, “an empty shell,” someone dying from Alzheimer’s.
On Pluto: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer's, Greg O'Brien and Lisa Genova
Understanding is the path to empathy. Empathy is the key to human connection.
On Pluto: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer's, Greg O'Brien and Lisa Genova
Alzheimer’s is not the stereotypical end stage; it is the journey from the diagnosis to the grave.
On Pluto: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer's, Greg O'Brien and Lisa Genova