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Alzheimers is terrible. My former mother-in-law has Alzheimers and is in a nursing home. It was very difficult for my ex-husband and he was not emotionally equipped to handle her illlness. Years ago she was cared for at home by an aide, and I would bring her grandchildren to visit and she would show some recognition of them by giggling and nodding in their presence. But before long, she had no recognition of us at all. I visit her in the nursing home from time to time, sometimes with my daughter when she is home from school. She is usually sitting slumped in a wheelchair, and she no longer knows us; it is very sad but we just hope, I guess, that she can sense our presence there.

The mother of my daughter's best friend, who is like a second daughter to me, had her children late in life and suffered early-onset Alzheimers. She no longer recognizes her own children, and is cared for by aide at home with help from her daughter. The daughter is 20 and she has two young teenaged sons. As the mother's Alzheimers became full-blown about three years ago, her husband, the father of these children, died of lung cancer. So now this young girl of 20 -- who is an absolutely wonderful person -- has had to care for the family and act as a surrogate mother to her younger brothers. This girl is the strongest and most loving, loveable person I've ever met in my whole life; she and my daughter met on the first day of preschool and they have been best friends ever since. I always call her my second daughter, and she calls me her "adopted" mother. When I think of all she has been through and still endures with her unbelievably positive attitude, it makes all other problems in life dwindle away in comparison.