Alzheimer’s: The devil we know

Today Barbara is joined by Karen Patterson, who attended Barbara’s “Memory Club” and other memory-care groups with her husband, Bob. Bob was -- literally -- a rocket scientist, and in his late 50s he was the first to notice that something was wrong. Karen believes it was the pressure of his work on top of his brain changing that was too much, and once he started making mistakes and forgetting important things, he chose to retire at 59. They discuss what life was like after Bob retired, and the odd role reversal when he’d need Karen’s help with technology or directions home.   After a series of inconclusive tests and evidence of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), Karen describes hearing Bob’s official Alzheimer’s diagnosis as “oddly comforting.”  After years of trying to understand what was happening, it was a relief to have confirmation. “Now we know the devil we have to deal with,” she says. Bob died in 2016, but Karen still receives red roses every Valentine’s day -- a sweet and romantic gesture that Bob had arranged with a neighbor before he died.