Some scattered thoughts, prompted by another forum discussion...
I have no formalized training, but I am a full time caregiver for my friend's mother who has Alzheimer's for the last 2 years and there is such a difference between when it is the disease or confusion talking and when you get the glimpses of 'them', the way they used to be. She is somewhat nominally Catholic; I don't know where she is at spiritually, or how to 'reach' her in that way. Not that I am overtly trying. But the part of me that used to wonder if it was even ethical to try (conjuring the stereotype of an elderly person easily conned) has realized that humanly the idea of it in the case of the disease that I've experienced, is that conversion is that much more impossible. After all, short term memory is 99% gone. I cannot ask her about even the last two minutes and expect a reliable answer.
She likes to sing though, it's mostly just here and there. But on a couple of occasions she would sing through the hymnbook for an hour or more, and this is probably the happiest I've seen her. My friend who is power of attorney and whose family of 9 is the main family factor in her life is a strong noncatholic Christian.
The different ways of being/thinking particularly in the lady I care for, seem very disconnected from each other. As I'm researching more it seems like dementia affects more the left side of the brain (language, sequencing, linear thinking, math, logic) than the right (rhythm, intuition, feeling, holistic thinking, arts) and I wonder how that plays in.
I've gained a little faith in my research it seems. Watching Teepa Snow has probably helped. I don't believe a person with Alzheimer's/dementia is beyond God's reach still, but I wonder what kind of method He would use. I think this kind of disease can be somewhat of an object lesson on both sides of the fence. When it seems like the person in what we can see of their core being is in such a weakened state, and the enemy has such an opportunistic advantage to gain a foothold in the mind based on false logic or premises.
A previous pastor of mine seemed to have some initial sense that his mind was being affected by something, I don't know if he would have said that it was affecting his relationship to people as opposed to more general day to day pastoral functions on occasion, but there were others where his actions towards them seemed so before he retired.
In God choosing between Jacob and Esau before they had done anything, I wonder what that says about the essence of who we are as people, if possibly one mode of being (ie right brain vs left as a crude approximation of a starting point?) comes in some way before the other. An essence that perhaps a disease like this may lock away inaccessible, but perhaps does not (necessarily) ultimately destroy.
I think the prevalence of this disease in the current day and age is no coincidence. It has a bit of the flavour of Romans 1, and our society (not individuals particularly) receiving a due penalty in ourselves for not retaining the knowledge of God so that He darkens our collective foolish heart. If that is the way to put it.
I watched an interesting video recently on the progression of the disease through stages, following one caregiver's journey with her mom, who was diagnosed fairly late in the disease (first half of video), and some of the early and later indicators. But she did not know if her mother was a Christian or at that point how to find out (second half). It was important to her to know that she would one day be able to communicate with her mother again in heaven. And then the relief and peace she felt finding among her mother's things, papers indicating multiple 'yes' responses to key and specific questions of faith, and watching her mother sing/worship along with a singer/songwriter friend of hers during a home visit.
I don't doubt that God can KEEP a person saved despite dementia, though their status may be even more hidden from view than for the average person, whom we are already cautioned not to judge. God knows who are His, and none can take them from His hand nor separate us from the love of Christ.
But is it possible for a person to GET saved despite having dementia? We hear of Muslims and others having dreams of Christ that point them to salvation. Couldn't God break through even the hallucinations dementia sufferers experience? So much is taken away from them that makes them who they are in the physical world we see. Near the end of life, what remains?
These are just some of my scattered musings on the topic today, anyone else have thoughts, scriptures or experience to share?
I have no formalized training, but I am a full time caregiver for my friend's mother who has Alzheimer's for the last 2 years and there is such a difference between when it is the disease or confusion talking and when you get the glimpses of 'them', the way they used to be. She is somewhat nominally Catholic; I don't know where she is at spiritually, or how to 'reach' her in that way. Not that I am overtly trying. But the part of me that used to wonder if it was even ethical to try (conjuring the stereotype of an elderly person easily conned) has realized that humanly the idea of it in the case of the disease that I've experienced, is that conversion is that much more impossible. After all, short term memory is 99% gone. I cannot ask her about even the last two minutes and expect a reliable answer.
She likes to sing though, it's mostly just here and there. But on a couple of occasions she would sing through the hymnbook for an hour or more, and this is probably the happiest I've seen her. My friend who is power of attorney and whose family of 9 is the main family factor in her life is a strong noncatholic Christian.
The different ways of being/thinking particularly in the lady I care for, seem very disconnected from each other. As I'm researching more it seems like dementia affects more the left side of the brain (language, sequencing, linear thinking, math, logic) than the right (rhythm, intuition, feeling, holistic thinking, arts) and I wonder how that plays in.
I've gained a little faith in my research it seems. Watching Teepa Snow has probably helped. I don't believe a person with Alzheimer's/dementia is beyond God's reach still, but I wonder what kind of method He would use. I think this kind of disease can be somewhat of an object lesson on both sides of the fence. When it seems like the person in what we can see of their core being is in such a weakened state, and the enemy has such an opportunistic advantage to gain a foothold in the mind based on false logic or premises.
A previous pastor of mine seemed to have some initial sense that his mind was being affected by something, I don't know if he would have said that it was affecting his relationship to people as opposed to more general day to day pastoral functions on occasion, but there were others where his actions towards them seemed so before he retired.
In God choosing between Jacob and Esau before they had done anything, I wonder what that says about the essence of who we are as people, if possibly one mode of being (ie right brain vs left as a crude approximation of a starting point?) comes in some way before the other. An essence that perhaps a disease like this may lock away inaccessible, but perhaps does not (necessarily) ultimately destroy.
I think the prevalence of this disease in the current day and age is no coincidence. It has a bit of the flavour of Romans 1, and our society (not individuals particularly) receiving a due penalty in ourselves for not retaining the knowledge of God so that He darkens our collective foolish heart. If that is the way to put it.
I watched an interesting video recently on the progression of the disease through stages, following one caregiver's journey with her mom, who was diagnosed fairly late in the disease (first half of video), and some of the early and later indicators. But she did not know if her mother was a Christian or at that point how to find out (second half). It was important to her to know that she would one day be able to communicate with her mother again in heaven. And then the relief and peace she felt finding among her mother's things, papers indicating multiple 'yes' responses to key and specific questions of faith, and watching her mother sing/worship along with a singer/songwriter friend of hers during a home visit.
I don't doubt that God can KEEP a person saved despite dementia, though their status may be even more hidden from view than for the average person, whom we are already cautioned not to judge. God knows who are His, and none can take them from His hand nor separate us from the love of Christ.
But is it possible for a person to GET saved despite having dementia? We hear of Muslims and others having dreams of Christ that point them to salvation. Couldn't God break through even the hallucinations dementia sufferers experience? So much is taken away from them that makes them who they are in the physical world we see. Near the end of life, what remains?
These are just some of my scattered musings on the topic today, anyone else have thoughts, scriptures or experience to share?
This Amen is for your wise and compassionate care of your lady. 
