Even with Alzheimers

“He’s still Mel...”

He had dreamed of having his own horses since he was a kid, Cathy Thompson recalled about her husband Melroy. But today in his mid 70’s, she realized he has forgotten his dream... along with many other things... because Mel has Alzheimers, a memory loss disease and is in a special care facility.

As we sat at the Thompson’s kitchen table on their farm a couple of miles southwest of Cannon Falls, Cathy recalled that the previous Friday had been their 43rd anniversary. But there had been no celebration. Cathy just went shopping for groceries.

She recalls, “I still wake up and think he’s in bed... but he’s not.”

Mel has been well known for his love of horses and his choice of Will West, a champion leopard Appaloosa stallion that he and Howard Banitt bought many years ago.

And I myself remember how comfortable I felt in Mel’s presence. Like the time I was driving past his farm and noticed a neighbor’s horse was loose on the road. LaVonne Gappa and I tried to corral the critter and get him back into his pasture but we weren’t getting it done. She went back to her house to call Mel and when I saw him coming I just relaxed because I knew that everything would be OK.

But as we talked in her kitchen, Cathy explained that Mel had started changing about eight years ago. The first sign that he had a problem was that he would forget to turn off the tractor - so the battery drained.

And he wasn’t feeding the animals correctly.

And Cathy had to take over the checkbook because he was paying the bills more than once. They relied on their friend, Tom Pasch a lot, she recalled.

The next signal of a problem came when Mel couldn’t finish the sentence he was speaking.

They went to a doctor.

The medication prescribed had side effects that made Mel pretty sick. He didn’t want to take it.

Following this he had a “good period” but then he began making mistakes in his comprehension.

And there was the time he got upset with Cathy and took off in their pickup. The family was worried and notified theHighway Patrol. But Mel soon returned. He had just gone a few miles to Sogn and back.

And there was the time they were at a show. At intermission Mel decided to go home. There was no changing his mind.

When Mel’s temperament changed, some of the family were concerned that he would physically endanger Cathy. During one episode, they called 911 and an ambulance came and took him to the hospital. Mel himself appeared to be thinking he was back with his Dad although that had been 60 years earlier.

Cathy finally realized that although at times Mel was acting better, he needed more care. They found one place but after four months she took him out when it was discovered he had a collapsed lung and pneumonia.

After much research and finding availability, Cathy chose the Red Wing Health Center where Cathy said, “He is loved, well taken care of and being visited quite often by his family.”

In reviewing Mel’s early symptoms of Alzheimers Disease, it seems it appeared so quietly. Because we all might normally do these things. Like Mel just forgot to turn the tractor off... or he got distracted when finishing a sentence... or he forgot if he had paid a bill. All these things can happen “normally”, right?

I got up from Cathy’s kitchen table where we had been discussing writing this article.

I gathered my notes and was heading out the back door to my car when Cathy called, “Rosie, do you want your keys?”

I had forgotten them.

.