I’m not certain I recall the first sign of Alzheimer’s that my grandma displayed. A few years ago, before he passed, my grandpa said he was worried about my grandma forgetting things a lot more than she used to and while I didn’t think of it as a big deal at the time, I tucked it away for future reference. So after he passed and I became the person she leaned on instead of him, I think that is why I started to pick up on her more frequent forgetfulness. When we began having the same conversations over and over, I knew something was going on so we made an appointment with her doctor.

The other reason I became more aware that there was a problem is because I research and write about older adult healthcare-related topics everyday. When I was doing research for Alzheimer’s Awareness month, I realized that her forgetfulness wasn’t a normal part of aging, like I thought it was.

After testing with a neurologist, her Alzheimer’s diagnosis was confirmed. She and I agreed not to keep it a secret. She told her friends and I told the family. We both knew that in the coming days, she would need more help than I could provide alone.

I don’t know if some people have a single moment that tells them, “something isn’t right,” with their loved one, but for me, it wasn’t one single sign. It was several small things that added up and began to tell a story.