Words from the daughter of an Alzheimer's patient

My 94 year old mother currently suffers with Alzheimer's. She can no longer put words together to make a complete sentence. She is bed bound and spends quite a bit of her time sleeping. However, when the music therapist, Karen, comes by to sing to her and to play music for her, a light goes on somewhere in her mind and makes her come alive again. She may not know the words but she responds in such a way that lets me know she is trying to make a connection. I make sure Mom has had breakfast and is in her geri-chair so she can get the full benefit of the music Karen plays and the songs being sung to her. To see this change come over my mother is, to say the least, remarkable and heartwarming. My mother loved to sing to us. Music was always a big part of our life and it shows on my mother's face when she hears familiar songs. Quite often the CNA taking care of my mom will ask to speak to Karen after her visit about a patient she thinks would benefit from a session. To those of us who take care of loved ones with devastating illness music therapy is a blessing for the patients. Where an individual may be unresponsive, restless and/or agitated, music provides a calming influence and lets them connect with a world that has sometimes left their memory. The softness of a strummed guitar, feeling the vibration on the guitar itself, the sometimes forgotten tune that jars a remembrance in the back of our mind is a very beneficial aid in the waning of life. If I could, I would fill each patient's life with the individual attention Karen gives in her sessions with hospice patients. It is a blessing that needs to be seen.