Daniel Potts and Ellen Potts

Lester's father traded land for a sawmill; the day the sawmill arrived he was 2 -- he wrote a story about it; an ox cart carried it into town, men unloaded it; Big Daddy put shoes on the feet of the family during the Great Depression thanks to the mill

Dad worked very hard; learned about relationships there -- colleagues of different ethnic backgrounds, friends for life; he loved to work

Lester married Ethelda Oaks; he was a church leader and city councilman; Daniel became a neurologist and Mom and Dad (Lester) moved to be close to him; he developed Alzheimer's; early symptoms -- anger over a tree the church decided to cut down; he then began as a valet at an office building -- got lost on the job; one day an attorney at Daniel's firm identified Lester's problem - Alzheimer's; that was the first time "my Dad failed" at anything; diagnosing him was hardest thing I'd been through

Lester descended rapidly into Alzheimer's; I found out I didn't understand the care-giving; it devastates; didn't have our planning in place; Dad became depressed - was a man who'd never asked for help with things;

If the patient comes to the appointment b/c they know they've had memory loss, it's good, if they come w/ family and have forgotten why that's a bad sign; he enrolled at Caring Days in Tuscaloosa -- for outpatient dementia care. He stabilized after that. They validated him as he was, no talk of "used to be;" saw his gifts and talents.

description of loving the patient just the way they are now -- with the dementia; Caring Days uses creative arts therapies;

the emotional person remains despite the physical abilities that disappear with Alzheimer's; he received art, music and pet therapy; he began to sing and to draw -- made over 100 watercolors there; he could paint detailed pictures while he couldn't hammer a nail with the same hand.

as you lose language (front-temporal region of the brain), the loss disinhibits the creative side of your brain (right hemisphere); you can communicate with the world again; Dad went from a broken human being to someone was proud

Dad began to do inappropriate things -- hug strangers, shake hands very vigorously; he would stuff knotted pieces of paper in his pockets; ate huge quantities (he ate all the cake leftovers off children's plates) and gained 50 lbs; eventually became belligerent -- went to seven different facilities and had to commit him to a geriatric center to calm him down

Dad got violent, wandered around, broke things, family had to institutionalize him; the committal procedure was traumatic; friends helped us though it; a judge we knew took his case -- 'here's one we have to get right' he said; The Harper Center managed to calm him down; then he went to a VA nursing home where he spent the last weeks of his life in peace

Mom would go to the nursing home and try to reconnect with him with questions like "how old are you, what's my name," etc. He died with his art around him and his family singing.

Lester hadn't spoken in many months in Hospice, he could sing there -- old hymns.

Lester couldn't eat a meal any more -- I was trying to feed him ice cream and sing "How Great Thou Art" and I forgot the words.

The Hospice care was comforting -- had an angel named Lucy on the wall; same pet name he'd called his wife. We put his paintings on the wall; He began to focus on the ceiling w/o blinking for two hours; I asked him -- he said "Momma" until he lost consciousness. It got rough -- pneumonia deaths are. Mom had to leave the room.

Dad's experience is going to bring the arts into other patients' lives and help care givers in various levels of care

the medical community doesn't give enough attention to the care giver -- they need as much as the patient does