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Pictures
of Normal and Diseased Brains |
|
Image used with permission from Alzheimer’s
Broken Brain
The Alzheimer's disease brain is on the left. It’s much smaller than the normal brain (on the right) and the gaps between the folds of brain tissue are wider.
Image used with permission from Alzheimer’s
Broken Brain
A cross-section of a normal brain and one with Alzheimer's disease. The normal brain segment is on top. Check out how much larger the ventricles of the brain are in the brain with Alzheimer's disease.
The ventricles are the cavities or spaces in the brain that contain a special clear, colourless fluid (cerebrospinal fluid) which acts as a cushion to protect the brain from damage if there is a blow to the head.
Image used with permission from
Crossing the River of Life with Alzheimer’s
The bottom three pictures show how the brain shrinks as Alzheimer's disease continues to do damage. The arrows show shrinkage in the region of the brain that stores short term memories.
Some people refer to the three stages of Alzheimer's disease as early, middle, and late stage. Over time, people with the disease will have problems relating to time, place, and person.
My Grammy is in the early stage of the disease and she knows that her memory is failing. She often asks, “What’s wrong with me? I get all mixed up in my thinking.” Grammy needs help from us especially in planning for the future, looking after her money and paying her bills, keeping appointments, and making sure her day to day needs are met.
She’ll need a lot more assistance when she’s in the middle stage of the disease. Her short term memory will become worse and it’ll be hard for her to make good decisions. She will probably need a lot more care and supervision when it comes to daily activities like eating, dressing, bathing, etc.
I don’t like to think about the late stage of the disease. Mama says that there may come a time when Gram needs more care than what our family can give her. She might have to live in a special care home where there are workers to look after her needs round the clock. She might get to the point where she isn’t able to speak and has trouble swallowing or holding her head up. Grammy’s feet and hands might not work as well either and she could end up spending lots of time in bed.
Her memory for us may disappear altogether. I’ll be very sad should that day come. But even if Gram doesn’t recognize me when she looks my way, I know that she still loves me in her heart and I feel the same way about her.
