
Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's
Season 26 Episode 17 | 54m 20sVideo has Audio Description, Closed Captions
Three families are transformed when a loved one is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer’s is an intimate portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer’s and how this progressive neurodegenerative disease transforms roles and relationships. Whether it's a partner caring for a loved one or an adult child shifting into being their parent's caregiver, these stories show how families evolve when a loved one is diagnosed.
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Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback

Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's
Season 26 Episode 17 | 54m 20sVideo has Audio Description, Closed Captions
Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer’s is an intimate portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer’s and how this progressive neurodegenerative disease transforms roles and relationships. Whether it's a partner caring for a loved one or an adult child shifting into being their parent's caregiver, these stories show how families evolve when a loved one is diagnosed.
See all videos with Audio DescriptionADProblems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipSingers: ♪ Oh, whoa, whoa, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, whoa, whoa ♪ ♪ Oh, whoa, whoa ♪ ♪ Woman, voice-over: Every once in a while, she would ask the same question twice.
"What do you want for dinner?"
5 minutes later, "What do you want for dinner?"
♪ Man, voice-over: He was misplacing items-- his wallet, glasses, his telephone.
♪ [Gull squawking] ♪ Woman, voice-over: She would be driving somewhere, and all of a sudden, she couldn't remember where she was going.
♪ Oh... ♪ Where-- where is that?
I don't-- You know, I don't have it at times.
It's all gone.
Where'd it go?
Huh?
Where did it go?
In the toilet.
I figured.
Ha ha ha!
It's harder for you sometimes now to say what you want to say, you know, to get the exact words out that you want to say.
"Ba ba ba ba da ba"?
Exactly, like I said.
[Both laugh] ♪ Woman, voice-over: When you realize that the person you love most in the world has Alzheimer's, half your life falls away in the moment.
♪ Everything has changed.
♪ ♪ Woman: Ma, catch.
Oh!
Whoa, ho ho ho!
You just got that one.
You have to... slow down a little bit because I just don't want to-- OK. Miller: Ha ha ha!
I felt some attitude in that throw.
You are a worthy opponent.
Ha ha ha!
♪ Hughes, voice-over: Since my mother's Alzheimer's journey has started, I've become her caregiver.
I decided to move my mom in with me.
Wow.
Wow.
Look at that.
Ha ha ha!
That is a cute look.
Ha ha ha!
She's a sweet one.
She helps me, and she does that pretty good, too.
Yeah?
I do?
Mm-hmm.
She does that pretty good.
♪ There you go.
Oh.
There you go.
Mm.
Hughes, voice-over: I'm a property manager.
All right.
Love you.
All right.
Love you.
Hughes, voice-over: My mom does stay home while I go to work full time in an office.
♪ [Chuckles] Hughes, voice-over: It's killing me every morning to leave her.
♪ Are you enjoying the weather?
Yeah.
It doesn't matter what the weather is.
I always enjoy it.
Yeah?
That's good.
Yeah.
Even when I was in the Navy out in the middle of the ocean and the waves were going over you, we had weather gear on, but you're wet.
Ha ha ha!
I think you ought to take it all off.
Take it all off?
Ha ha ha!
Spin this way, keep all the little hairs off you.
Voila.
You look just like your dad.
Ha ha ha!
♪ Carlos Jr., voice-over: I was an illustrator draftsman in the Navy, and I worked at Sac State University in media services, and then I went on doing art and this and that.
♪ This is wood on the outside, but this is metal.
[Tapping] ♪ It's all plywood, but you really can't tell, but the plywood is not flat this way.
It's plywood this way, and then I got these old masks that I made of my face, and I cut them in half and painted them and put them into there.
This is just fooling around, you know.
Ha ha ha!
Leave my ear on, OK?
I wasn't planning on it.
Ha ha ha!
♪ Carlos III: Me and my dad have always had a close relationship.
♪ He's a man's man, an artist, strong work ethic.
He's my hero.
♪ Massage your legs.
Lay back...please.
God, he's so bossy.
♪ Carlos III, voice-over: I left my career in the events industry and moved back home to be my dad's caregiver, and he didn't like it.
♪ I was encroaching on his independence.
♪ He would say I was belittling him.
♪ Carlos Jr., voice-over: Yeah.
It's good to have somebody around to help you, and since I don't have a wife right now, he's like a wife.
Ha ha ha!
♪ Where's your napkin?
Carlos III, voice-over: My dad is not really aware that there might be something wrong with him, that he's dependent upon someone being there.
♪ Yeah, so this goes off to the right side.
You have it?
Mm-hmm.
OK. OK.
Wait.
Before you come down, take the string to the right, the string that's to the right.
♪ Da da da da da da da ♪ ♪ Da da da da da da da da ♪ ♪ Da da da da da da da ♪ ♪ Da da da da da da da dum ♪ ♪ Ba rump ba bum bum bum ♪ Ha ha ha!
♪ This is our photograph.
This is me, or was me-- it still is-- and this is Janice.
This is, um-- ♪ olives.
I mean, not olives.
What are they?
Ha ha ha!
Anyway, it is, um-- it's a very...wide-- ♪ [Car horn honks] Goldberg, voice-over: Sue and I have been together for 45 years.
♪ Here.
Feel that.
Yep.
Oh, this one's a little... Softer?
softer.
That's what we want, is a little softer.
OK. Is that good?
Darrow, voice-over: Janice is Janice.
She is a lovely, lovely girl.
Yes.
That's true.
Oh, look at this.
Goldberg, voice-over: The relationship has changed from being partners, equal partners, to caregiver and partner.
♪ There we go.
Breakfast is served, OK?
Oh, my goodness.
Is that good?
Goldberg, voice-over: You know what I feel like sometimes?
I feel like a single mother.
You got to take care of the kid.
You got to cook for the kid.
You got to pick up after the kid.
You got to help make sure the kid is clean.
There.
That's for you.
♪ Here.
You didn't get your pillows.
Here.
Yes.
Here, honey.
Goldberg, voice-over: I have no choice but to keep going, put on my big-girl pants, and take care of things and do what I need to do.
♪ Hughes: You like that one?
It's a pretty color.
Mm.
No?
Hughes: What about this?
No.
Oh, man!
Ha ha ha!
All right.
I'm striking out here.
♪ Hughes, voice-over: My mom was a single mom, and I'm an only child, so there was a really close relationship there because it was just the two of us going to church together, singing together.
Her and I have just done everything together.
I was her little shadow... ♪ in a lot of ways best friends.
♪ My mom was a sewer professionally.
She also sewed a lot at home.
She sewed my clothes.
She was really, really excellent at it and super hardworking.
♪ [Mouse clicks] [Types] Lately, my mom's become more and more attached.
[Ping] [Ping] Hi!
Hi.
You OK?
Sound exhausted.
Yeah.
I am a little bit.
I, um-- Yeah.
I'm just having a... bad day.
You're having a bad day?
Why are you having a bad day?
Because I was like, OK, I wanted to get-- [Sighs] wanted to get stuff done.
I want to, like-- Oh, yeah.
I'd like to be able to do this and-- and then, um-- then I was like, "Oh, boy."
It's OK, Mom.
[Sighs] Take a breather.
Yeah.
I-- Take a breather.
OK. All right.
Yeah.
OK. [Door closes] Hughes, voice-over: I am starting to look for a job where I can be able to work from home.
I told her, I said, "Yeah.
I want to try and find a job, Mom, so that I can work from home and stay here with you," and she's like, "Yeah.
I want that, too."
She told me, "I'm gonna be praying that God brings you a job like that."
Oh!
Nice!
Get it, girl.
[Knocks "Shave and a haircut--two bits."]
Hello?
Good morning, sunshine.
I'm gonna make some breakfast... and then we're gonna go to the doctor's office.
Mm.
No.
I'm gonna stay in bed.
Come on, Pop.
We have a appointment at 10:00.
We need to get there soon, OK, Pop?
[Laughing] [Turn signal clicking] Yay.
We found a spot.
Man: Hello.
Carlos III: Hey, how you doing?
Great to see you both.
So today I'm gonna read a list of words to you, OK?
I want you to repeat the words back to me?
OK. Carlos Jr.: OK. Face, velvet, church, daisy, red.
Was a daisy in there?
And something else, and I forgot what it was.
No.
I'm having a hard time doing that one.
OK. Yeah.
Now, could you tell me today's date?
What's that?
Today's date.
Good question.
Ha ha ha!
I don't know.
Let's start with the year.
What year are we in?
I don't even remember that, either-- 2000-something.
Mm-hmm.
What about-- 10, maybe.
2010.
OK. Carlos Jr.: Ha ha ha!
Medina: All right.
[Typing] Medina: The CT scan looks at the density of the brain.
There's one particular area that we want to look at in Alzheimer's, and that's your hippocampus.
In Alzheimer's, we find that these two will start shrinking, and so just from looking at this, we would expect that you'd be having trouble forming new memories.
♪ ♪ So you can see that you have quite a bit of space here.
I see a lion there.
You see a lion?
Ha ha ha!
Ha ha ha!
Goldberg: Wow.
That looks great.
Holy Hannah.
Darrow, voice-over: I first met Janice when she was... At the beach.
well, at the beach, but I forgot where or how many days it was before I met Janice at the beach.
[Both laugh] It was glorious.
♪ Goldberg: I looked up, and I saw this blond-- because she was blond-- and I was like, "Oh, my God, she's gorgeous."
♪ Gracious, fun, caring, give you the shirt off of her back.
♪ She was something to behold.
♪ Goldberg: We went shopping in a consignment shop and bought two wedding gowns, and you took them apart and made the costume, and she walked into some great, big, huge, gay nightclub and people, like, went crazy over this outfit.
All eyes went, "Whoof!"
onto you from this.
This was a great night.
♪ Goldberg: I could always think of the people looking at me, going, "What's she doing with her?"
and I'd be like, "Uh-huh.
Eat your hearts out.
Eat your hearts out.
She's with me."
Goldberg: Let's do your exercises, OK?
OK. Come up.
You got to stand here.
You have a bad hip.
These exer-- I don't have a bad hip.
Goldberg: So you're gonna take your right foot, put it over your left foot.
No.
Come back.
Come back to here.
No, no, wrong way.
Yeah, and you're supposed to just lean into the wall... Ohh... Goldberg: this way a little bit, just a little.
No.
No.
Yeah.
No.
I had enough.
Wait, but if-- Let's just rest for a sec.
Let's just rest for a sec because if you don't do it, you don't get better, OK?
I won't get better?
Yes.
You have bursitis.
You have a bursitis.
It's very difficult, and you have a lot of pain, OK, when you walk, and, here, see how his little head goes this way?
This is my head.
OK. Let's try it one more time, OK?
All right.
Here.
This foot over that foot.
OK.
I-- Done.
Goldberg, voice-over: Sue, sometimes she gets very impatient and gets mad at me.
Sometimes she takes off outside, and then she's off on a tear, and there's no stopping her.
♪ I have an Apple Watch on her wrist that we can track... [Telephone line rings] her iPhone, hopefully, put in her pocket.
[Ring] Darrow, on phone: You have reached Susan Darrow.
♪ [Ring] ♪ [Ring] ♪ [Click] You have reached Susan Darrow.
♪ Hughes: I'm looking for your purse so we can get your toothbrush.
Do you know where your purse is, Mom?
Not under the mattress.
Found it.
It's wrapped up in your-- Oh, it's in that.
wrapped up in your shirt.
OK. Well, that's good.
Okey doke.
Yeah.
Oh... and I have two-- Hughes, voice-over: We live in a small northern lake shore town here in Michigan.
There's very little resources for caregivers.
I don't have anyone locally that can help support.
I feel, like, on an island, on our own... so I started sharing on Instagram.
There are a lot of things that I'm learning as a caregiver to my mom with young-onset Alzheimer's.
♪ Hughes, voice-over: I'm hoping to find some people that are navigating this disease, as well.
♪ Do you notice anything about this bed?
♪ She has been sleeping on all of that.
I don't understand, but--you know what?-- it's not for me to understand.
It is what it is.
It's her world, and we just all living in it.
All right.
I've got a towel for you.
Mm-hmm.
I will leave you to it.
Hughes, voice-over: I have definitely thought about moving, maybe to Grand Rapids.
Grand Rapids is much bigger than Ludington, and it's closer to my hometown, so I can be closer to friends, family, and more support options... OK. Hughes, voice-over: but in order to move, I have to find a job where I can work from home.
[Knocks "Shave and a haircut-- two bits"] Woman: Hi.
How are you?
Uh, better now.
[Both laugh] Carlos Jr.: That's good for now.
Carlos III: OK. Crane, voice-over: I met Carlos many years ago through his wife Maria, and then after Maria passed away, after a while, I got used to having Carlos as a friend, and then eventually, we started going out.
You and I just started gabbing on the phone, and then you said to me, "Hey, do you like jazz?"
Remember?
Yeah.
I don't quite remember all that now.
I'm losing the stuff in my brain.
Crane, voice-over: We had been going out for about 6 years when I started noticing the change.
So how was your day today?
So far, good.
Crane, voice-over: We had a lot of fun together going to concerts and art galleries, and I felt a big loss because the person I knew was no longer that person.
Did you guys go for donuts this morning?
Uh, was that today?
Crane, voice-over: We don't have a relationship much anymore because I'm a caregiver for my mom.
♪ Both of us are kind of stuck in our situations, but I still consider him my sweetheart.
♪ Your hanger fell again, Kathleen.
I'll have to come back and fix it.
Crane: Like you don't have anything else to do.
Crane, voice-over: His son has devoted his life to taking care of his dad now.
Almost everything he does revolves around trying to make his dad's life better and fulfilled.
♪ Carlos III: What was the most exciting thing about being in the Navy?
♪ Everything was exciting.
Ha ha ha!
We were sent out towards Russia, and then we surfaced right in the middle of their port to let them know that we were there, and they chased us for I forget how many days, but they never did catch us, so-- Wow.
♪ Carlos Jr.: I was in Navy for a long time.
The home base was Hawaii.
We went to Japan and Vietnam, and I just remember going down to the South Pole.
It was cold.
I mean cold.
♪ That was a good time in my life.
♪ Goldberg, voice-over: Sue is at the point now where she really can't be left alone, and I have friends that will step up to help, but it's not sustainable.
Trying to figure out financially how to make it work is a huge portion of what we're living through.
Goldberg: Bye, guys.
Call me if you need me, OK?
♪ Goldberg: All right, so here we are at the main branch of the New York City Public Library, so the library itself, this building was finished in 1911.
Brooklyn and Queens... Goldberg, voice-over: I am a theater director, and I'm a licensed New York City tour guide.
Sue was a restaurant manager.
These are not jobs with pensions.
Goldberg: That's a statue of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who built Grand Central.
Goldberg, voice-over: Paying a caregiver to care for Sue would cost upwards of $100,000 for a year.
♪ I don't have those financial resources for that.
I just simply don't.
♪ Goldberg, voice-over: I'm working on getting into a state-run program that would pay caregivers to come in to help take care of Sue, but getting into the state program is an uphill battle.
There's a million hoops you have to go through.
The ultimate goal in all of this is to keep Sue out of a nursing home.
Hughes: [Posh accent] Assistant, would you please sit right here?
Miller: Ha ha ha!
Thank you so much.
OK.
Thank you.
[Regular accent] I wanted you to help me pick out my "first day at work" outfit, so this is one option.
Yeah.
I have this colorful dress.
It's not something that I would wear, though.
Ha ha ha!
OK. Yeah.
Hughes, voice-over: I accepted an offer for a new position that will allow me to work from home more often, and that is exactly what I was hoping for.
I think we've got the outfit.
Mm-hmm.
Hughes, voice-over: The plan is to move me and my mom to Grand Rapids and get a 3-bedroom apartment where me, my mom, and my aunt can live together.
Yeah.
I like that.
So I had spoken to Trina.
Mm-hmm.
I had told her that we'll be moving, and she's really excited about you being close again.
Yeah.
We got together out in the water and stuff, so-- Yeah.
Went to the beach... Mm-hmm.
went to the beach... Yeah.
and then her and Bob took us out on their boat.
Yeah.
We had a good time there, and--let's see-- was Andrea there, too?
No.
I don't think she was.
Yeah.
I was there.
I was there.
My Andrea... but she had to work then, so--yeah.
♪ Hey, caregivers, today my mom disassociated me as her daughter.
I know that that's just a part of the Alzheimer's journey, but I am struggling, and I'm just wondering if there is anyone else out there that is struggling, too.
♪ [Squawking] ♪ ♪ Hughes, voice-over: I know that she loves me, but I also want that identity.
I don't know who I am without being-- being, like, her daughter to her, you know, type of thing.
♪ ♪ Carlos Jr.: That art piece right there, well, that's my was a photograph of my son Cesareo.
It's just, you know, the ink pen.
You just do little dots.
It's gots to be maybe 3,000 to 5,000 of them that I made.
I have two sons--Carlos, and then I have another son Cesareo, and he lives out in the trailer outside, but I haven't seen him for a while, so I don't know where he's at.
Carlos III: My brother's dream was to become a crew chief with NASCAR.
♪ He moved back from North Carolina to take care of dad with me.
He had a hard time with caring for my dad, seeing that deterioration.
My brother struggled with alcoholism.
♪ About one year ago, I hadn't seen my brother for a couple days.
I had banged on the trailer door.
Eventually, the fire department pried the door open, and we discovered my brother had passed away.
♪ Dad asked me where Cesareo was.
I grabbed his hand.
I said, "He's gone.
He's dead," and Dad shook his head.
He broke down.
I saw life get sucked out of him.
♪ Dad came to the memorial, saw the pictures, but didn't seem to take root in his memory.
♪ About a week later or so, he asks, "Have you talked to your brother?"
♪ I don't tell my dad that my brother's passed anymore to reduce the traumatic emotional effects.
♪ Now when my dad asks about my brother, I'll say, "He's in North Carolina.
"He's with his NASCAR buddies, and everything is fine."
♪ [Coffee mug clinks] OK.
Here you go.
I can't take all this.
Want me put it on this one or the one right behind you?
Just whatever.
OK. Hughes: So, Mom, I was thinking we could go to the park.
Hughes: OK. Hughes, voice-over: My mom and I moved to Grand Rapids 9 months ago, and then my aunt is living with us, as well.
Miller: Are you ready?
Hmm?
Are you ready?
I'm having my coffee.
Hunt, voice-over: I watch Kristy 2 or 3 days a week while my niece Andrea is at work.
It's been a challenge for me.
There are times when my sister thinks that I don't belong here, that I don't live here, and then she wants me to go, and she gets very agitated.
Hughes, voice-over: Moving has been very disorienting for my mother, getting used to her room, to just the unfamiliar places.
She feels unsure and unsafe.
Miller: I am going home.
Oh, you're going home?
Yeah.
Oh, OK. Hughes, voice-over: I've been feeling a lot of guilt because I moved to make things better for us but the move made things worse.
♪ There have been challenges to working from home that I did not anticipate.
Even if I'm home, I still have meetings all day, and so I can't necessarily give my mother the attention that I would like to.
♪ Even if technically, "my aunt's with her."
it's like I am still on because if there's some kind of disagreement, at the end of the day, I'm the one that she trusts the most.
It's just crazy.
You're, like, on high alert all the time, all the time.
Woman: Sue Darrow?
Ah, yeah.
Woman: So how are things going?
Goldberg: Good.
They're OK. Darrow: Well, they're not, you know-- Spectacul-- No.
It's all good.
Not spectacular, but...
It's good.
it's good.
Jagannathan, voice-over: Many patients who have Alzheimer's disease are not aware of the fact that they're experiencing memory problems, so I try and do the appointment with everyone together.
The most important thing is allowing both people to speak so we can figure out what the actual issues are and what we can do about it.
Jagannathan: What's different?
Goldberg: What's different is the words and about being able to pick words out.
Sometimes when you look to see something, you can't-- the name of what it is escapes you.
Oh, oh, you're-- Talking about you.
Yeah.
Now you're talking about me.
Yes, and-- Oh, OK. How are things in terms of your mood?
I'm good.
What do you think?
Sometimes she's angry.
OK.
Angry...
Yes?
because somebody-- Becomes angry with me because I nudge and tell her or she get, you know-- How often is that happening?
Uh, it's not.
Ha ha ha!
Is it like she gets mad and then she walks away and then calms down?
She walks away and then goes out.
Have you gotten lost recently?
Uh, no.
Ha ha ha!
Yes.
When you finally answered the phone, you weren't sure where you were or how to get home, really, or where you were, and so I had to walk you-- It's OK.
It's OK.
I'm gone.
I'm gone.
It's OK. See?
I'm gone.
Ha ha!
This is what's happened.
This is exactly what happens.
OK.
There you go.
Will you continue this appointment with me, Sue?
No.
Why not?
Because it's-- ha ha ha!
Well-- No.
You want to sit for a minute and talk about it?
No.
No, no, no, no.
Well, at the very least, I need to figure out if we need to do anything like refill medications, so why don't we at least have that-- I don't have any medications that I-- I know, but I do prescribe some, so let me go and figure that out, OK?
OK. OK. You want to come with me, or no?
No.
OK, but I'm gonna take Janice with me.
OK. You don't leave, though, OK?
Stay here.
OK. ♪ Thank you.
Jagannathan: Can you predict what the triggers are gonna be?
Sometimes yes.
It's telling her something she doesn't want to hear.
She gets like-- It's embarrassing, and I understand the anger.
I get it.
♪ [Door opens] ♪ OK. [Horn honking] ♪ This one up here, yeah, it was me and my sons, Carlos, and then Cesareo lives up in the mountains now.
♪ Carlos III, voice-over: This role as a caregiver is an emotional roller coaster ride.
I had to learn how to adapt with the isolation of not being able to share my grief with my dad.
♪ ♪ I'm trying to get there.
I got--I'm in a cab.
I need to be 143rd.
We just got to keep going down Broadway, please, sir.
♪ She's 139 now, almost at 138th Street, so let's go, please.
♪ Oh, my God.
♪ Carlos III, voice-over: I wish I could have helped my brother.
Good night.
OK.
I love you.
[Kiss] I'll see you in the morning.
All righty.
Carlos III, voice-over: The thought of not doing enough for my dad weighs heavy on me.
♪ Hughes: Wait.
Hughes, voice-over: I feel like Alzheimer's has just turned us into enemies.
There was so much love between us, and I just thought that that love would be like this tether that would help us always find our way back to each other, and I feel that tether just, like, disintegrating.
[Sniffles] ♪ Keep going.
Keep going...please.
♪ Keep going.
Keep going.
There they are.
Goldberg, voice-over: You think you're on one trajectory in your life, and it makes a left-hand turn, so you have to adjust and adapt all the time... Goldberg, voice-over: and you also know that it's never gonna get better.
♪ There's my little baby.
Is that your baby?
Yeah.
That's submarine right there?
Yeah?
Yeah.
Is not that the one I was on, but one like it.
You got it, Pop?
Yeah.
Would you sit in here?
Mm-hmm.
You sit here and, uh, play cards or whatever.
Did you work in here?
Yeah.
Everybody on the submarine works in every position at one time.
Carlos III: So you'd have to learn everything about what these, uh-- Carlos Jr.: You'd have to.
Yeah.
Somebody gets killed that is in one area, you'd have to go do that job in his area.
Carlos III: How did you flush the toilet?
Doesn't look like there's a lever.
Big farts.
[Laughing] Carlos III, voice-over: My approach right now is to create a space for him to be confident and comfortable, becoming someone he can lean on when he needs it.
♪ It's been a long time.
♪ Carlos III: Whoo hoo.
♪ ♪ Carlos III, voice-over: In the early stages of my dad's dementia, I didn't know what a caregiver was.
I didn't know what Alzheimer's was.
Woman: So thank you again for agreeing to meet with us.
Carlos III: SB 639 would create Alzheimer's diagnostic hubs to train providers and expand access to early detection and diagnosis.
Carlos III, voice-over: I started advocating with the Alzheimer's Association.
Carlos III: I'm gonna talk about SB 639, which would create Alzheimer's diagnostic hubs.
SB 639.
Carlos III, voice-over: I feel a sense of purpose to give back to other caregivers.
Man: Say, "EndAlz."
All: EndAlz.
♪ Darrow: Oh.
Delivery.
The delivery.
Delivery, but you have to get up to get it.
I'll put it over here for you while you get dressed, OK?
OK. Goldberg, voice-over: It's been very difficult to find a caregiver who is right for taking care of Sue.
It's not just anybody that can walk in and deal with her anger.
♪ I sent out 300 emails to folks I know... Man: I'm just going to put more flowers on Janice's hat.
Goldberg: Yes.
Make my hat very pretty.
Goldberg, voice-over: and I finally got in touch with Joe.
He's amazing.
He's very good with Sue.
Look at that.
Beautiful.
Ha!
Beautiful.
♪ Goldberg, voice-over: We got into the CDPAP program, which is run by the state, which helps pay for Sue's care.
[Both laughing] Act like you're-- act like you're having a good time.
I am.
Ha ha ha!
♪ Goldberg, voice-over: It allows me to breathe a bit and not worry about Sue all the time, and that's an amazing gift.
♪ It also allowed me to be able to pick up work directing a play.
Woman: Sydney's at the hospital for observation.
Man: Does she know what's happening?
Hard to tell.
She's been crying all day, but not speaking.
Goldberg, voice-over: The play deals with dementia and the downhill slide of that, and it's a comedy.
Jesus, look around you.
We're surrounded by suffering in this place.
Waah!
Ha ha ha!
Man: Stop.
Please stop.
I'm trying to help you.
OK. Good.
Let's stop.
Good.
Goldberg, voice-over: Look.
If you can't laugh-- Ha ha ha!
Perfect.
You know what?
As they try this-- Wait, wait, and if they try to-- if you try to sneak away and he's here, you can stop him right here.
Hughes, voice-over: I've become a lot more active on social media.
It's been pivotal to my mental health, truly.
♪ I have been connecting with other caregivers, exchanging stories, exchanging remedies, exchanging fears.
♪ I went from having a handful of direct messages to having upwards of 100 direct messages a day.
♪ I just want you to know that this is a place that you can be able to come to because this is tough.
It is tough.
We need each other.
♪ Miller: Oh, my.
I love this picture of you and me.
Oh, that was another nice one.
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
This is one that I love.
Hmm, yes.
Hughes, voice-over: My biggest hope is just that we find each other again.
I know it'll be different, but I'm really hoping that we can just feel connected with one another.
♪ I love you, Lord ♪ Mm-hmm.
♪ And I lift my voice ♪ ♪ To worship you ♪ ♪ O my soul ♪ ♪ Rejoice ♪ Both: ♪ Take joy, my king ♪ ♪ In what you hear ♪ ♪ Let it be a sweet, sweet sound ♪ ♪ Let it be ♪ Both: ♪ Let it be ♪ ♪ A sweet, sweet sound ♪ ♪ In your ear ♪ Whoo.
Oh, fastball.
Oh.
Ha ha ha!
Ha ha ha!
Hughes, voice-over: I am starting to make a little bit more peace with the hard parts of this.
OK. Hughes, voice-over: I'm learning to live in the present with her.
♪ We've had a small family of very resilient women... That's true.
lots of resilient, headstrong-- Yeah.
We don't like to just say, "Oh, no.
We can't do that."
Mm-hmm.
We hold on.
Yes.
We do.
[Cheering] ♪ [Whistle blowing] Goldberg, voice-over: There's a lot of stuff that has changed in our lives, and we've adapted to it, and that's not to say it's been easy, but it's what it is, and so, you know-- so, yeah, anyway, we're still good, right?
Always.
That's the right answer.
♪ [Bicycle bell rings] Carlos III: Can you tell me your lifelong goal?
Carlos Jr.: It's already done-- having two sons.
♪ There.
My job is done.
Ha ha ha!
♪ Carlos III: If you ask me if I would do this over again, I'd say yes.
I'd go through all this pain for my dad.
♪ ♪ ♪ Singers: ♪ Oh, whoa, whoa, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, whoa, whoa ♪ ♪ Oh, whoa, whoa ♪ ♪
Trailer | Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's
Video has Closed Captions
Preview: S26 Ep17 | 30s | An intimate portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer’s. (30s)
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