“Everything is passenger”: 54 -year -old Woman tells the journey with Alzheimer

Lina Nonaaka and her husband, Renato Ikegami, face a routine of forgetfulness and resign life in small gestures

Lina Nonaaka looked at the shelves filled at the supermarket. Suddenly, I didn’t remember what he went there to buy. He returned home with his full bags, but without what he really needed. Renato, her husband, recalls that this was one of the first signs that something was wrong. “He bought everything except what was needed. We thought it was stress, that it was the tiredness of the work. Earth.

• Receive the main news directly on WhatsApp! Sign up for the Earth channel

Nutritionist training and marketing professional, Lina has always lived between projects, objectives and commitments. He slept little, he worked hard. Until the falls have become insistent. “I was aware of it?” He asks today, at 54, when he revisited the fragmented memory of when the first symptoms began around 50.

Lina realized that something was wrong when she was lost at work while she recited by analyzing and consulting a company: “I was not managing. Literally she lost me. With it actually, the ideas didn’t matter. As if the connection had fallen in the middle.”

His collaborators also raised suspicions that something was wrong and with this he looked for medical treatment. The diagnosis came after a neuropsychological evaluation in 2024. “In the exams, it was discovered that it is with Alzheimer’s”, says Renato Noria Ikegami, her husband.

The shock was inevitable. “We had a fright. For the young age … it’s quite soon. Unfortunately, there is no care, there is no medicine. When I discovered, I said: what to do? But at the same time, I thought: we will start living every day, one day at a time.”

“I have heard insecurity. Because, then, we lose our trust,” recalls Lina. Renato, in particular, recalls the episodes of panic: “He didn’t recognize where he was. I called me. I told her to calm down and then started following. It’s very crazy. He was always centered, he worked a lot. Suddenly …”

Today, recent memory is the most affected. “I’m talking to you now. In five, ten minutes, it ends up forgetting our conversation. The moment, everything, is fleeting,” explains Renato.

Resigned life

The routine has changed. Renato, now also a caregiver, has learned to be patient. “He is having a lot of patience and service. And learn.” The family sought the support of Abraz (Brasilian Alzheimer’s Association), where he participates in lessons and meetings. The couple also finds strength in the messianic religion. “He receives Johrei (divine light transmitted by the hands) and helps to calm down a lot,” says Renato.

To face oblivion, the strategy is the notebook. “He scores what he will do the next day: cleaning of the kitchen, breakfast, adoration, washing of clothes. You must write that you too will have lunch, otherwise, forget and spend the day. I follow and write in my program to help.”

Despite the difficulties, Lina still finds pleasure in simple activities. Take care of the plants, take small agreements to deliver to the church. Speaking of his past, he lost: “We participated in the Belém house, which welcomes the abandoned children. We did activities on the weekend, always on Saturday. It was very good. We invented tour, we took music, theater.

Family, welcome and emotional memories

Family support is essential, but not everyone understands the size of the disease. The couple lives in Itu, inside San Paolo, while the mother and the four sisters of Lina continue in San Paolo. The meetings have become increasingly rare, limited to special dates, such as Mother’s Day or Mother’s birthday. The family did not visit them in Itu.

When asked whether to find the sisters happy, Lina replied quickly: “It depends,” he said with a laugh.

“There are some who do not accept or even do not know what Alzheimer’s would be. Because you have to know how to speak and be patient. He repeats the same thing twenty times. If the person is not aware, he gets sick, without patience”, explains Renatus, who finds support in other caregivers, whose stories are shared. “People start setting up, they say she is doing it on purpose.”

Even the couple of the couple, Thiago, 17, faces difficulties. With such a recent diagnosis, he did not understand the severity of the disease, nor can distinguish the gestures of maternal insistence from the repetition signs caused by Alzheimer’s. “We bring it to Abraz’s lessons because it is a way to learn and feel a little on the skin,” says the father.

Lina fears only one thing: “Being alone”. Therefore, Renato insists on the importance of reception. “Once we saw a crooked lady. So we welcomed. And we waited for the arrival of the escort.”

“It was fast, but only the fact that welcome already helps this part. The person who is with Alzheimer’s, is missing. He must have a welcome, a safe refuge.”

Speaking of bad comments, Lina says she is “battleship”. “He is battleship because of oblivion,” Renato said. He said it is common for people to tell sad stories that they have heard on other diagnosed people who have had a rapid worsening or have gone through frightening moments. “It is not necessary to comment. There is no need to encourage negative things,” warns Renato, who has learned the need for positivity.

Among the family strategies there are the help of emotional memories. “We looked for a hot dog at the USP, where we were going in the past. He remembered. It was no longer a van, it is now a kiosk, but they are the stored memories,” says Renato.

Lina now dreams of simple things: “I want to travel. A little time has passed since I went to the beach.” In family plans, a journey on the northern coast of San Paolo – a destination that Lina visited with her aunt when she was a child. A memory that, like many others, still resists.

Source: Terra

Ben

Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.