ART vs. Alzheimer’s
Family portrait, Ceny Carvalho's Mother (the baby), Aunt and Uncle, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
By DENISE CARVALHO
The following story is excerpted from WE ARE ALL CHILDREN AT THE END, a book which covers the author’s experiences with her mother Ceny who in the last few years of her life began suffering with Alzheimer’s. During these last years, learning how to draw and paint could be said that greatly expanded her time here on earth by giving her hope and beauty. Maybe any of us would think that the opportunity to experience life through one's freedom of expression, or through the right to earn a living in anything one believes in or feels good at, or even being strong and determined to win against impossible odds, or facing life with courage and resilience despite the fact that no one believed you, maybe all of that wouldn't be enough to fight against this numbing of oneself, this predator of hope, turning hope into becoming zero. These are words one does not want to hear: Tbe neurologist gave mother the ultimatum: “Ceny,
you can no longer drive, as you have been diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s.” She didn’t believe him but was forced to accept or at least pretended she agreed with him. The point was, she couldn’t forget she had given reasons for his ultimatum: crashing in a tunnel when she couldn’t remember where she was. It was in Rio, around 2012 or 2013 when she crashed her car in a tunnel as she was wondering “where am I?” That led to a visit to her neurologist, and to various exams, leading to the diagnose and treatment. Strangely though, mom’s high blood pressure (which she had since she was in her 50s’) and incontinence (when she was in her early 80s) led to a series of exams showing an excessive accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), or Hydrocephalus. We, her children, were stunned, when we found out that she needed a ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt. It seemed that it was not so unusual with patients with Alzheimer.’