Reading, Writing and 'Rithmetic

When I was diagnosed with Alzheimer's I was the director of a two-thousand-seat performing arts center. That job entailed a lot of hours and carried a lot of stress with it. Not only did I have to deal with our patrons, but manage the crew, the talent, and box office personnel.

At the end of a long show day, I would have to sit down with the promoters of the show and "settle out." This meant writing them a check for their box office revenue minus expenses. We were talking about many thousands of dollars sometimes in the hundreds of thousands. Math was never a strong suit for me but I could manage. With the help of computers and spreadsheets, it was easy - until it wasn't.

Difficulty with numbers

After doing this job for 8 years I found myself having a difficult time with the numbers. I found I couldn't get the right numbers down on the spreadsheets. I couldn't calculate expenses properly nor manage box office receipts. I found myself calling my husband at 11:00 at night asking for his help before I sat down with my clients at the end of the show.

I didn't know why this was happening. I shrugged it off as being tired and stressed.

Other "number" symptoms creep in

I started asking my staff to step up and help me with some of these tasks. It was helpful, but I knew that if there were any mistakes it would still be my responsibility. This added more stress. Then I started to realize that I had a hard time with other "number" things. Like making change in a store, not being able to follow a recipe, and even dialing a phone number. I knew something had to be wrong as these things had never been a problem before. This was one of the first symptoms that I noticed in my long journey of getting my Alzheimer's diagnosis.

A trigger for some

Although not everyone with Alzheimer's has the same symptoms, I have found that the whole "math thing" is a trigger for some. Several close friends have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's recently and I noticed when we would go out to lunch or dinner, a friend would say "I forgot my glasses, can you figure out the bill for me?"  Or, as they were looking at their spouse they would say, "I forgot my wallet, can you take care of this?"

They knew something was up but they weren't ready to come to grips with it. My husband started noticing those signs as well so when they finally got their diagnosis we weren't surprised. We were just glad they were seeking help for it.

Time to go to the doctor?

This was the tip of the iceberg. I kept noticing things that I could normally do without a problem, now became a problem. Not every time I tried to do something but it happened more than it should have.  

It's the little things that would trip me up and then it seemed as if nothing I was doing made sense. It kind of lead to a snowball effect. So when 2 and 2 no longer added up to 4, I knew something was wrong. Was it time to go to the doctor?

Are your Alzheimer's symptoms impacting daily function of your life, and maybe even your job? You are not alone - join the conversation.