Summary
2 Reviews |
26 pages |
1 year ago
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Draft 1
Melody and Richard have been married for 57 years vowing to care for each other always and forever. Then, Melody is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. In contrast, her body is heathy except for a slightly low salt level. As her mind and body deteriorate much faster than average, Richard, an honorable man does his best to care for his wife at home. Their children promise to help. However, like many families, adult children with lives fall by the wayside despite their good intentions. The only person who helps Richard is Gloria, a neighbor lady who went through the same experience with her own husband. Eventually, after a series of events, Richard must put Melody in a nursing home. He stays by her side month after month, holding her hand. Ultimately, lonely and depressed, he accepts a one night invitation from Gloria to get out of the house. That event turns into a series of fun social outings. Ultimately, their relationship intensifies and Richard breaks his wedding vows. While in his new relationship, he stops visiting Melody and enjoys living again, telling himself, a man can't cheat on his spouse if her mind and memories no longer exist. Finally, after a lot of painful soul searching, he decides to break off his relationship with Gloria and revive his relationship with the true love of his life, Melody. On his first return visit to Melody, the floor Nurse stops him from entering his wife's room, warning him things have drastically changed. He's told Melody's salt level went so low, she became comatose and was in dire condition. Unable to wait, he pushes open the door to find Melody sitting up in bed, happy and joking with their son and daughter. Melody informs him, she was misdiagnosed. She never had Alzheimer's. She had hyponatremia, low sodium. The symptoms mimic each other and the elderly are especially vulnerable because of their lax eating habits. NOTE - It's estimated 18 to 30 percent of the elderly in assisted living and nursing homes have hyponatremia. How many Alzheimer's patients have been misdiagnosed?