Ttom: (Active Peer Volunteer since January 2009)
"Hello, my name is Tom. I'm 62 and recently fully retired. I was diagnosed with Alzheimer's related dementia in June of 2008 after a lot of testing completed at my wife's request. My 30+ career as a Sr. Plastics Manufacturing Engineer ended in 2005 when my employer sent my job to Asia. I decided to go back to work locally but there was nothing that compared to the job I had been educated for. Since I felt it was important to keep myself active I began to evaluate other alternatives. At my age, moving away from my children and settling into a new town and home was not a good option.
I took a job in a mechanical field that I had been trained for and was let go because I could not perform up to standards. Well, that hurt! I looked around and found another mechanical job that fit my background. In less than 2 months I was released from that one for the same reason. Doubly hurtful! Found another job that I was qualified for. It was working for a friend that I used to work for as an Engineer. After about 6 months they decided to move my job to the night shift and I quit. Found out later that they hired another person for the day shift. Not too sure what happened there and I never pushed my friend for a reason. Soon after that I began to get lost while driving in familiar areas and other times, how to get to places I'd been to before. Then I had an incident in which I completely became disassociated with myself and became argumentative.
After that incident my wife became concerned and asked me to get some medical help. She works in a Human Resources position and is trained to notice characteristics like I was showing. My doctor sent me to get MRI's, EEG's, spinal taps, Psychological exams, a PET scan and Neurological exams. The MRI showed some brain atrophy. The neurologist put me on Aricept. My doctor later added Namenda and anti- depressant and here I am. One last piece of the puzzle to add, I had a stroke and spent 30 days in a coma in 1982 and mental health problems are in my family history.
After 2 1/2 years of testing/evaluation and a 2nd opinion at Johns Hopkins we are sure it's Dementia and probably Alzheimer's. The state revoked my driver's license and presently on SSDI.I would like to be in denial of having Alzheimer's but I can't keep a job because I can't concentrate or focus. I will try to accept the stuff that fell on me and move to provide for my family. The Serenity Prayer is all that comes to mind here.
As a Peer Volunteer I hope to have the opportunity to do whatever I can to help. The Alzheimer's Association Online Community has provided a good support group for me in the past. I want to give back as good as I have received! There are no Support Groups in the Harrisburg area strictly for Alzheimer's patients. I would like to learn as much as possible in this area. Maybe I can provide some useful knowledge by participating in our support group here."
I'm proud to work with such a helpful group such as these other Peer and Retired Peer Volunteers.
Please remember: 1) You are not alone and 2) early detection makes all the difference, see a Neurologist if you suspect memory problems!
