True Story Birds in the Mattress

3 Nov 2025 · 1 min

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In this brief narrated excerpt from Lisa Skinner’s book Truth, Lies, and Alzheimer’s: Its Secret Faces, the author introduces the chapter titled “Birds in the Mattress.” She explains that the chapter presents a true‑story vignette about Mrs. Walker, an elderly woman living near her family, to illustrate common behaviors observed in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. The story begins with Mrs. Walker’s eldest granddaughter proudly driving to visit her grandmother after obtaining her driver’s license, highlighting the close, affectionate bond between them and setting the stage for later observations of dementia‑related behavior.

Chapters

So the following is a true story taken from my book Truth, Lies, and Alzheimer's: Its Secret Faces that illustrates some of the behaviors that we commonly see with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia. And this chapter is called Birds in the Mattress. Mrs. Walker, only lived a few miles from her family, so they did visit her often. When her eldest granddaughter got her driver's license, she immediately drove over to see her grandma to show off getting her, her license. Her Nana was very special to her, and they really enjoyed spending quality time together.