Bill and Susan Long sometimes bicker playfully when he can’t recall simple things, like where he left his keys just a minute ago. But their real fight is for time.
Bill Long, 70, was diagnosed two years ago with early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, and some days he can’t remember the names of his grandchildren. Still able to work two days a week at Home Depot, Bill keeps a tight grip on the independence he has left, knowing full well that the disease can eventually rob him of all his mental and physical abilities.
He admits that his wife may be the tougher of the two. It was her “pit bull mentality,” he said, that cleared health care hurdles to get her husband properly diagnosed after his forgetfulness and changes in behavior were more serious than “just getting old.” She also got him referred last year to the UC Davis Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and into a clinical trial of a drug which they hope will slow the disease and extend Bill’s good and healthy years.
Although tenacious, Susan Long is the worrier. She frets about someday not being able to provide the 24/7 attention that her husband may need, that he will end up in a nursing home and they will lose their entire savings to pay for his care, or that someday her husband of 48 years will not even recognize her.
“But I’m hopeful that the drug, or another that will be discovered, will work,” she said. “I want to be with the Bill I know and love for a long, long time more, and in our home.”
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The clinicians, researchers and advocates battling Alzheimer’s disease know that the clock is ticking for the Longs and hundreds of thousands of others like them. A UC report earlier this year sounded the alarm with projections of a dramatic rise in the number of Alzheimer’s cases in California. A state task force was formed recently to develop a plan on how California can best respond to an impending Alzheimer’s epidemic.
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