In last week’s blog, I noted that the development of meaningful communication is a lifelong process, and an orderly progression in the development of spoken language can be observed: “Words are associated with objects, places or persons. Sentences slowly develop as more objects, places or persons are included. Comprehension occurs when concepts and ideals enter the equation.” Today, I will move beyond spoken language and briefly touch on thoughts, reasoning, and behavior.
Normal Development
Over two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul, outlined the aims and ideals of normal human development by using himself as an example. After evaluating the studious efforts of some of the finest minds in the field of psychology, I cannot find anyone who has been able to improve upon his concise summation: When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways (1 Corinthians 13:11 ESV).
Alzheimer’s Destruction
Sadly, the destructive progression of Alzheimer’s stops all forward momentum and gradually moves the sufferer in reverse order back through the developmental process. For the past nineteen years, I have devoted my life to understanding the vagaries of this horrible disease as I have watched it transform my precious wife from a vivacious participant in the life of her family and church to a shuffling little lady whom I visit and minister to each day. For all practical purposes, Linda’s memories of the past have been wiped out, and any meaningful capacity to think in terms of the future is nonexistent. In this advanced stage, there is only the present, and it will increasingly become a series of jumbled images and patterns. Those of us who love her – and I desperately do – have to accept that one second to the next is all we can expect!
Inexplicably, her capacity for emotions, affection and the ability to sing remains partially intact. This apparently relates to memory traces that are not easily understood. Several instances from this past week illustrate this phenomenon: While assisting her with eating the evening meal, I told her that she was wonderful. She stopped eating, placed her hand on my arm, and flashed her trademark smile. Later, during a short walk, she suddenly stopped shuffling and with a display of loving adoration that I first experienced about this time sixty years ago, reached up and gave me a kiss. Unfortunately, due to a few recent cases of COVID, it had to be received through my mask. Nevertheless, it was precious! Finally, on a regular basis, I receive reports of her joining in when the old hymns of her childhood and youth are sung.
Expressing Discomfort
As Linda moves closer to the end of her life, she is no longer able to verbally express how she feels. Therefore, being able to determine whether she is in pain or merely uncomfortable is extremely difficult, if not impossible. I vividly remember those times many years ago when she, trying to meet the needs of our crying infants, would tell me, “I don’t know if they are sick or just upset.” Now life has come full circle, and I find myself in the frustrating position of trying to determine the cause of her spasmodic episodes of crying. In a previous blog, Connecting Past and Future (part 3), which was published on July 17, 2022, I identified three possibilities:
Spatial disorientation – When moving from a standing/walking position to sitting, she often appears to be physically struggling to determine where she is located in space. In essence, the world appears to be topsy-turvy. To say the least, this must be an unnerving sensation.
Emotional disequilibrium — All her normal boundaries for evaluating emotional interactions have been permanently thrown off balance. Oftentimes, in a matter of minutes, the world around her moves from delightful banter to the mundane affairs of life, such as toileting or eating; she is unable to keep up with the flow.
Cognitive incongruity — Thoughts that were once in balance are now subject to an unpleasant state of disarray. She has no control over when orderly patterns of thinking are interrupted by a series of jumbled images and patterns resembling static on a radio.
Since that time, I have pondered a fourth and very positive possibility. Considering Linda’s lifetime practice of presenting all her needs to God in prayer, I do not think the reality presented in Romans 8 is implausible: In the same way the Spirit [comes to us and] helps us in our weakness. We do not know what prayer to offer or how to offer it as we should, but the Spirit Himself [knows our need and at the right time] intercedes on our behalf with sighs and groanings too deep for words (vs. 26 AMP).
Ron Harvard Ministries 