Driving Mr. Bill down Memory Lane

One thing I have been doing with Bill since he moved in with us, is to constantly test his memory and recall.  Trying to keep his mind active and alive is one of my main concerns.  Now Bill only graduated the 9th grade, dropping out when he was 16 years old.  Afterwards Bill spent the remainder of his life mostly as a laborer, hard labor, lifting and carrying heavy materials.  So finding subject matter that I can quiz him on daily, and test his recall requires some investigative work on my part.   One thing Bill knows about, and has enjoyed as a hobby most of his life is working on cars, and working on cars with one of his sons.  So here I find myself researching an area I know very little about, and that is working on cars.
During my research I found a very comprehensive site that covers most every aspect of car repair, reliability of certain makes and models, as well as locations of auto repair shops in whatever area you happen to live, or travel in.  Finding http://repairpal.com/ was a jackpot of information all on one site that I could research, learn, and share information, as well as quiz Bill on.

The other day, I asked Bill what was one of his biggest challenges while working on cars.  He replied that changing a head-gasket was probably one of the toughest, and most frustrating jobs, he had to deal with when repairing cars.  So being the super bright, intelligent, good looking guy that I am,  I jumped on http://repairpal.com/ and looked up head-gaskets.  You would never guess what I found!  Well, Ok maybe you will!  I found http://repairpal.com/head-gasket-replacement slap full of everything you need to know about changing a head-gasket.  I was able to bring up the site, read about it, sit right here and discuss the changing of head-gaskets with Bill for a couple of hours.  He was able to recall memories and information, discuss them, and I was able to follow along and ask questions.  Through it all, I saw his spirits lift, his enthusiasm about life, and self esteem all rise due to this one topic.  

A day later, Tuesday we drove into town, to vote for our favorite conservative candidates when we found a car for sale.  Well this brought up the discussion of him working on several of the same make and models of that car, a car that was one of his sons favorite cars to repair and race in.  When we arrived back at the ole' homestead we looked up http://repairpal.com/honda-civic-2001 .  We found everything you need to know about the 2001 Honda Civic and more.  This site had everything from problem reports, Q and A, Ratings and reviews, and recall information.

One thing I try to do on a regular basis is quiz Bill on geographic locations, city, states, country, places he has been, and information about them.   Well, this morning while eating breakfast he asked what was on the agenda for today.  My reply was that he was on his last pair of panties, and needed to go buy some.  Panties is what we call his Diapers.  He thought I said we were going to Los Angeles!  "LOS ANGELES?  We are going all the way to Los Angeles in your truck?  What if it breaks down on us? I'm not walking all the way back from Los Angeles!"  (We live in Alabama).   "Why the Hell are we going to Los Angeles for anyway?"  Going along with his misunderstanding, I told him that if we broke down, he could fix the truck since he knew so much about working on cars, and if that did not work then we would find a repair shop. 

So, I pulled out the laptop, pulled up http://repairpal.com and immediately found http://repairpal.com/los-angeles-auto-repair .  There I found tons of auto repair places, along with their addresses, websites, reviews, and a google map to there locations all in Los Angeles.  Of course, I informed Bill that we were not going to Los Angeles, that in fact I said he was wearing his last panties, and we needed to go buy some.  It then dawned on him that we were going to go buy diapers. 

We are going to beat Alzheimer's Disease, it is not going to beat us.  I hope that our experiences will in someway help you, in your daily struggles with Alzheimer's.  Keep up the fight!  As always, feel free to share your thoughts and comments with us.

Brian