Barb and Dan Johnson (front row right) watch Jordy Nelson go for the Touchdown.
Alzheimer’s disease makes you forgetful. My husband, Dan, and I drove to Green Bay recently for a Green Bay Packers football game. Dan reserved great seats at ground level in the end zone. He did this for me, because since being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s I have experienced extreme dizziness at elevated heights. I feel tipsy topsy and dizzy like I am going to lose my balance and fall.
I loved our lower level seats! We were right in front of the cheerleaders who kept me entertained. All the cheerleaders, male and female, were awesome and very athletic. The female cheerleaders stood on top of the guy’s shoulders to cheer! Then they would jump down and do the splits – so athletic! Between the cheerleaders and the Packers playing right in front of me, I was very entertained. It was a great day and the Packers WON.
On the way home Dan and I stopped at a restaurant for dinner. It is a favorite restaurant for Dan, one that he likes to go to after Packer games. We have obviously been there enough – the waiter remembered us! We had a great dinner.
Before we left to drive home, I stopped in the ladies room. When we were almost home, I remembered that I left my cell phone on the shelf in the bathroom. Dan immediately called the restaurant. Luckily the waiter found my phone and shipped it back to me in Brookfield.
I know this can happen to anyone, but I am convinced that my losing the phone is mostly due to the Alzheimer’s disease. I am getting very forgetful, and this does not make me happy.
~Barbara Cheek Johnson is a journalist living with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease~
Alzheimer's Association, Southeastern Wisconsin 