Malinda’s Story

Malinda and her three siblings grew up in a small town under the care of their devoted parents. There was an emphasis placed on family in their household, and they all share a strong sense of loyalty to each other and their mother. Some of Malinda’s most treasured memories are of her mother cooking and singing in the church.

Malinda and her siblings grew up and moved out to lead their own lives while still managing to spend time with family. 2011 rolled around and her mother developed breast cancer. After a serious episode of what was determined later to be a hallucination in December 2011, her mother moved in with her while still undergoing cancer radiation treatments.

When Malinda’s mother moved in, the siblings continued to notice odd behaviors. Her mother would mention that someone was stealing from her or thought someone was taking the hem out of her pants. The siblings knew something was wrong and they decided to act. In February of 2012, they took their mother to a neurologist where she was diagnosed with ‘dementia’. In September of 2012, she was given a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease in addition to her dementia diagnosis. Later, in September 2012, she was given a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease in addition to the dementia diagnosis.

After Malinda had cared for their mother for a couple of years, the siblings decided to start rotating home care amongst themselves. Eventually, their mother developed bronchitis, becoming terribly sick and requiring rehab. Once she left rehab and was placed in a facility, she had a mild incident with a nurse. The incident led to their mother being sent for further evaluation, where she was finally diagnosed with Lewy body dementia in June 2016.

She is now wheelchair bound and relies on total care from others. Her speech is limited, but she still loves to sing, especially saprano. She likes to make funny faces and laughs a lot in spite of her condition.

Malinda is very grateful that her family shares with the care of their mother. Malinda suggests that caregivers read as much about LBD as possible. She recommends caregivers join a support group so they don’t have to face this disease alone – even if they don’t have the same family support as she is so thankful to have.


Malinda

Nov 09, 2017