More Snow Melt

A Time to Lie

30-Day Blogging Challenge September 1 to September 30, 2011 ~ Day 4 Prompt: "When is it OK to lie? We all tell the occasional "little white lie". What makes them more acceptable than a regular lie?"

There is a time to lie. Every caregiver realizes this at sometime in the process of caring for an Alzheimer’s patient. The short-term memory lose prevents the person from giving names to objects they want. In addition, many patients suffering from the disease do not realize they have Alzheimer’s.

Sometimes a person may realize something is wrong, but does not know what. If the caregiver tells them the truth, the patient would not believe it and, therefore, would become angry; the best thing to do in this situation is lie.

My most recent lie to my mother concerns an object she is looking for. She has been looking for this item off and on for several days. She cannot name the item; she can only show me the approximate size and shape of the item. Apparently, it is either round or square and over an inch around. This can cover many things.

Today, I told her that I put the item away in a dresser drawer. Since I do not know what she is talking about, I have no idea what I am looking for. My only option is to find several small objects and show them to her until she finds one she likes.