It's not uncommon for us to lose something like car keys or our wallet, and we can easily laugh and joke that we're crazy and have Alzheimer's disease. But to an Alzheimer's victim, it isn't just losing a belonging, it's also not knowing what purpose the object serves.

Alzheimer's disease is a lifestyle of forgetting that becomes routine.

Alzheimer's disease, or AD, is the deterioration of brain cells, according to Greg DuPuis, executive director of the Alzheimer's Association in Indianapolis.

"It affects your short-term memory," DuPuis explained. "It affects you to where you might not be able to remember what you just did five minutes ago. You may be able to remember 10 years ago, and when you were a little kid, because that part of your memory is still in storage. It's the immediate memory that gets hit first," he said.

Children's Express also talked with Joyce Dobson, whose mother was diagnosed with the disease in 1990. Dobson was able to tell us stories that only a person who has dealt with the disease could tell.

"There was forgetfulness, there was a change of personality. A woman who had been fastidious became very neglectful of her house, herself. She seemed to withdraw from social situations.

"She was beginning to wander a little bit. She was mixing up things _ trying to cook with ammonia and trying to wash clothes with cooking oil . . . She was violent on a couple of occasions."

In severe cases, as in Dobson's mother's, victims don't recognize people close to them, even their spouse or children. And this is what happened to Dobson.

"I went to her and she had no idea who I was. And she attacked me. I called a doctor who had examined her a couple years before who said, `You need to admit her to a psychiatric unit and get her evaluated.' That was absolutely the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

Although her mother is in a nursing home, Dobson still feels tremendous stress in having to see her often and making sure she has the best of care.

"It's very stressful . . . My mother is never out of my mind . . . It's like having another child around. You know, she's never gonna get better."

One of the many difficult things Dobson has had to do was to explain to her children that their grandmother had a disease.

"I said that Grandma had a disease that they could not catch; it (is) not a communicable disease. But that the remembering parts of her brain were deteriorating and were gonna get worse. But the loving part of her brain was still there _ that she could still love them," she explained.

Although Dobson's mother seems to know something is wrong, it does not stop the uncertainty and forgetfulness.

"I think she'd be horrified if she knew about these changes that are taking place . . . Sometimes her losses terrify her," Dobson said.

The national Alzheimer's Association, existing since 1980, is doing various things to help families deal with the stresses and problems that come with the disease.

Locally, the organization has established support groups in Marion County, where family members and friends can meet once a month, led by trained volunteers. Groups are geographically located for convenience.

Another service that the organization provides is to educate professionals.

"We work in educating the fire department, for example," said DuPuis. "What happens if they don't know (about the disease) and there's a patient? The firemen may not know how to deal with (the person)," so providing them with updated information about the disease can be critical.

"We're trying to pass legislation that will have more money allocated for research," DePuis said. "We had $280 million last year. We'd like to see $500 (million) this year.

"We're also working on a program that will have better care in long-term facilities for patients. So we want some laws and regulations that will be fair and better serve Alzheimer's patients."

There is no cure for AD, but researchers do have some idea of possible causes and ways of finding a cure.

"Recent findings have demonstrated that there is a certain gene, chromosome 21, that has a mutation on it" in Alzheimer's patients, he said.

Dobson hopes researchers come up with a cure soon, before any more families have to go through the stress and pain that hers has experienced. Her advice to people who suspect a loved one has the disease or if they know someone who does is to "love these people. Treat them with dignity and care. Because they were at one time very productive people . . . It could be you or I someday. I think dignity and love is all you can give them. They can't talk, they don't have a voice. They depend on their families to say these things for them."