The Smith family: stories from the families...[MORE]
"The third and final stage of Alzheimer's disease begins with a steep cognitive slide.

"I prepared myself," Ericka Smith said, "so it was like, here we are. She doesn't know who I am. OK."

By early 2004, a full-time caregiver had moved into the Smith's Orinda home to help care for Suzie. By the end of the year, a second full-time caregiver had moved in, too, to help on weekends, evenings and whenever the need arose. But by January 2005, the situation was untenable.

Early Onset patients are not feeble. They may no longer recognize their families or caregivers, or understand what a toilet or shower is for, but they can fight off what, to them, appears to be a physical assault. Instead of seeing a beloved daughter or trusted caregiver, they see a total stranger who is stripping off their clothes and shoving them, however gently, into a tiled cubicle full of water.

For the Smiths, the whole thing came to a head the weekend that Ericka's father, Rick, went to San Diego to see some old Navy buddies. By some strange alignment of stars, all six turned out to have spouses with Early Onset Alzheimer's.

Back in Orinda, all hell had broken loose.

"She bit me four times," Ericka recalled. "It took three of us to get her to the bathroom. She chased me around the house. She thought that I was going to murder her."

The family did an emergency check-in at an Alzheimer's residence facility that Rick's Navy buddies recommended. Suzie has lived there ever since. Now 59, Suzie does not recognize her family when...."