Pam and Gerald's
Corner of the Web

​Pam and I met in 1997 while living at the Regency Tower Apartments in Oklahoma City. We moved in together to save some $$$ when I got a job with MCI/Worldcom in Colorado Springs in May of 1999. I came back to visit her in July of '99 and opted to make the girl legal in October '99 when we married and she moved out to Colorado Springs.

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We enjoyed the good times for many years. We moved from one apartment to another, adopted a dog from the Humane Society in 2001 and finally had enough money, with the help of family, to buy a house and a car in 2003. We lived the happy suburban couple life, adopted an abused dog and traveled the state of Colorado, to and from Oklahoma and one trip to California to visit Pam's brother. Little did we know the fun times would soon be over. In 2008, my mother passed away and I was laid off from Verizon. We lost our car and house and were forced to squeeze everything we had into a two bedroom, 2 bath apartment. I was unemployed for two years. Bonnie, our first dog, passed away before Christmas 2009. I finally found a great job, but that would only last four years. In the meantime, we adopted two cats and Noah, our second dog, passed away at 13 years old in 2014.

 

During the years we had a home and car and two rambunctious kids, Pam started showing some signs of forgetfulness. In the past five or six years, the decline was more noticeable. She would get lost going out by bus, hand out blank checks to salespeople at the door and neglect personal hygiene. Not until Pam went back to visit her brother in 2011 did the full extent of the decline become apparent. She did not know names or faces of people she had known for decades.

 

January 2015 I went to the hospital with an infection on my left toe and leg. I had no choice but to leave Pam alone for a week. When I got home, her brother had called Adult Protection Services, which was a godsend. It got us in contact with the resources we needed to properly diagnose, initially "probable Alzheimer's," and more recently Alzheimer's. There were no blood flow or traumatic brain injuries present, just the onset of Alzheimer's.

 

Since her diagnosis in 2015, I've been her sole caretaker 24/7. The stress was unbearable at times. But as the stress grew, I found the strength to ratchet it up to the next level and go on. For now, disability and the generosity of friends and family is keeping me afloat.