Defined

Frontotemporal lobe degeneration - the name for a group of clinically, pathologically and genetically heterogeneous disorders associated with atrophy in the frontal lobe and temporal lobe of the brain, with sparing of the parietal and occipital lobes. (from Wikipedia)

Just in case some of you may not know what frontotemporal lobe degeneration is I thought I might just look it up and define it so we are all on the same page. After this definition I am sure that we all know what Mom is dealing with.

OK, even as an ICU nurse this definition means nothing to a daughter who is taking care of a mother who is afflicted with FTD. Let's try again.

Frontotemporal dementia (not sure if this is quite what we are dealing with or not.)
A table found on Core Clinical Diagnostic Features of FTD.

1. Early decline in social interpersonal conduct
2. Early impairment in regulation of personal conduct
3. Early emotional blunting
4. Early loss of insight
5. Non-fluent spontaneous speech with at least one of the following: agrammatism, phonemic paraphasias, anomia
6. Language Disorder characterized by progressive, fluent, empty spontaneous speech
7. Loss of word meaning, manifest by impaired naming and comprehension
8. Semantic paraphasias perceptual disorder characterized by prosopagnosia: impaired recognition of identity of familiar faces
9. Associative agnosia: impaired recognition of object identity
10. Preserved perceptual matching and drawing reproduction
11. Preserved single-word repetition
12. Preserved ability to read aloud and write to dictation orthographically regular words

Well, still a little technical, but getting a little more concrete. How about I try my hand at a true and practical definition.

Frontotemporal Lobe Degeneration - A condition that is caused by the abnormal degeneration of the frontotemporal lobes of the brain.

Symptoms are as seen, first with difficulty to find words and formulate sentences. Possibly even individuals who are highly educated, normally articulate with an extremely large vocabulary. (Talking on the phone may become especially difficult.) This may initially cause frustration to the individual afflicted and family members. Relationships may suffer as a result of seeming disinterest. Hobbies may shift to receptive entertainment when previously were much more socially inclined. (ie evening out with friends becomes personal movie night) Stress becomes a thing of the past and deadlines may become less important. Conceptually viewing complex, long term ideas may become difficult. Distractions will most assuredly become more difficult to ignore and all interpersonal skills will suffer the results. Memory - long and short term - will be totally intact. But immediate interpretation of information will become difficult to process and respond to. Individually will still seek intellectual stimulation through current events and periodicals, but full understanding is difficult to assess. Humor is spared and individuals are able to communicate enjoyment and laughter and particular preferences to certain people and activities. Emotions are blunted and at times may be inappropriate for the circumstance.

My Mom has always amazed me with her poise, personality, her intellect, grace, love, faith and patient persistence. It's so difficult to see her fall victim to something that takes pieces of this away from her.

With this said I know that Mom remains intact in so many ways. She remembers people at the mall I have never even met. She laughs at all my jokes. She is tender towards me just like a mother always will be to a daughter. She remembers things that I have told her days before. She sometimes is very opinionated. She enjoys being social and being outdoors. She likes me to read to her. She makes everyone in her life know that they are special.

She is still my mother and the love will never end.