Every year about this time, I catch myself feeling blue. That’s because 17 years ago this month, my mom lost her grip on reality and became convinced that the Russians had landed their Mir satellite in her backyard. It was the Friday before our school’s big UIL practice tournament, and I’d been busy getting all our materials together for the journalism events. About 3:15 the school secretary knocked on my classroom door and told me to call my husband immediately after the dismissal bell rang.

What I would learn is that my mom had called 911 multiple times during the early morning hours, frantic because she believed radiation emanating from the satellite was coming through the walls of her home. Needless to say, the UIL tournament went on without my help the next day while I struggled with how to best help my mom.

We convinced her it would be best to check herself into the hospital because of the radiation she had been exposed to. In the midst of a gut wrenching experience, we did have some humorous moments. When the psychologist questioned her about the satellite landing, my mom asked him what his security clearance level was. When he admitted that he did not have any, she replied calmly that she would need to wait to speak with someone with the appropriate clearance. Her delusions were probably enhanced by the fact that she served in the Navy WAVES during World War 2 performing top secret work at Fort Ward on Bainbridge Island.

The only tangible evidence of her service we have is the letter of commendation she had hidden away and never shown to us. The letter states that no formal recognition would ever be made of her service due to its top secret nature. It wasn’t until several years later that we learned the specifics about her service when the US Navy officially recognized the work that was done at Fort Ward. We would love to have told her that the government had released information about the work, but she never allowed us to mention it again.

Anyone whose loved one has been lost to them through dementia knows the agony of grieving the loss of the loved one while their body is still functioning. My mom lived another nine years in a nursing home, alive but lost to us. We were able to honor her service with a military funeral and interment in the national cemetery in San Antonio, but the honor was bittersweet.

The following link has information about Lewey Body Dementia that was not readily available to our family in 2001: https://www.lbda.org/content/10-things-you-should-know-about-lbd