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Healing Mind, Body and Spirit

Alzheimer’s Disease: Through the Veil of Silence Mike Davis and Barb Remakel
 
Alzheimer’s disease is an enigma.
 
We have learned much in the past year about biological markers, genes, and other possible factors relating to the development of this disease, yet it seems that there is still so much we don't understand. What is it that is processing at the core of the mind, the heart and the soul of one affected by Alzheimer’s disease? What is the struggle that seems to speak volumes in the troubled faces and eyes of the Alzheimer’s patient, yet is unable to be expressed verbally? We really wonder if there is something going on inside the mind of the person with Alzheimer’s disease that is so meaningful yet it is something that we are blinded to. What if the disease signals something, says something about the soul previously unknown?
 
What if . . .
The wandering, the escapes - what if they are the statement of the soul that says, "I'm not sure where I am, where I should be" - the preternatural signal that twilight is upon the wanderer?
 
What if the fear of water is akin to the fear of being cast loose of the moorings of one’s life, perhaps even a herald of the irrevocable movement towards the Waters of yet another new Birth? And, so too, with the agitation. As the child yet in the womb has moments of kicking, movement, turning, and long silence so also does this Fetus, a fetus cocooned within the well-spun and well-worn body, soon to metamorphose into a new being.
 
What if the long silence of Alzheimer's is really a turning within, a hibernation of sorts, until the shedding of that cocoon?
 
What if there is really some spiritual lesson to learn from Alzheimer's, some call to our busy world that says, "Be still and know that I am God"? The Old Woman loses her memories in reverse chronological order. Why? What happens when she has exhausted the memories? Does she retreat to the womb? Why wouldn't she? She's gestating. Soon she will be with God. Do the memories evaporate or are they in some way internalized, no longer a cognition, and now more thoroughly and more completely than ever before, exactly who we are? Or, perhaps, a truer expression of who we have always been.
 
Our "what if’s" may remain unanswered, hypothetical possibilities. Research and scientific methodologies may be ineffective when searching for clues to the processes of the inner sanctums, of the hearts and souls of those with Alzheimer’s. Maybe this is as it should be. Maybe the person with Alzheimer’s disease deserves, needs, the interventions that only love can offer - listening, caring, and being a companion for their inner journey. Maybe, even in the silence, we will hear their story, we will feel their gradual metamorphosis, and we can bless their passage between the veils and vistas of the sacred terrain of their soul.
 
Mike Davis and Barb Remakel Copyright © 1999, 2000 ElderHope, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Article reprinted by permission of the authors.
 
Barbara Remakel is co-founder of ElderHope, LLC, www.elderhope.com , offering geriatric care management services. Barbara received her B.S. in Geriatric Counseling and Rehabilitation Science from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. She is currently completing her M.A. in counseling from Amber University. Barb has served as a bereavement coordinator for a local hospice and is a member of the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers. She offers presentations to organizations and community centers on issues relating to elder health. Barb has been associated with the Alzheimer’s Association and the American Cancer Society.
 
Mike Davis is, likewise, co-founder of ElderHope, LLC. Mike received his B.A. from Tennessee Temple University, his Th.M. from Dallas Theological Seminary, and is currently working towards his M.A. in counseling. He did his clinical training at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. Mike has worked for both hospice and Baylor University Medical Center as a chaplain. Mike continues to work for hospice as a chaplain, ministering and providing support to patients and their families. He also offers presentations and seminars to organizations and community centers on issues relating to elder health. Barbara and Mike may be reached at: www.elderhope.com or caregiver@elderhope.com or ElderHope, LLC, P.O. Box 940822, Plano, TX 75094, (972) 768-8553.
 

 

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