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This is our season one finale, recorded on our mom Rosemary's birthday, and it holds three things: what's changed in Alzheimer's diagnosis and research over the last year and a half, an honest look at where we actually are now compared to where we thought we'd be, and a conversation with our mom herself to close out the season.

We start with the biggest shift in diagnosis since our mom's own P-tau217 test: several new FDA-cleared blood tests have come out in just the past year, including one approved for symptomatic adults as young as 40, cutting down the need for invasive procedures like lumbar punctures or PET scans. We share practical advocacy tips for anyone still fighting to be taken seriously by a doctor, including writing down specific incidents, bringing someone with you to appointments, and asking directly for a neuropsychological evaluation rather than waiting on a general screening. We also talk through the real toll of caregiving, reframed not as a debate about whether care should be paid, but as an honest look at the extra full-time load caregivers carry and its documented impact on caregiver health.

From there we get into where we actually are, a year and a half in. It's not the outcome we feared, and it's not the outcome we'd hoped for either. It's less bleak than we expected, but not lighter. We talk through the specific, ongoing signs, changes in handwriting, difficulty with numbers, concepts slipping, alongside what's still very much her: still funny, still thinking of her grandson, still herself in the moments that matter most.

We close the season with our mom, asking her about her life rather than her diagnosis, her memories of each of us, of becoming a grandmother, of family trips and everyday moments, and hearing directly from her, on her birthday, how this past year has actually felt for her.

This episode covers new Alzheimer's blood tests, advocating for a neuropsychological evaluation, early onset Alzheimer's diagnosis delays, caregiver burden and health, and living with early onset Alzheimer's one year after diagnosis.

Support the show

Thanks for walking this journey with us. Conversations Through Alzheimer's is hosted by sisters Amber and Felicia, and new episodes drop every Monday through September 2026.

If this show has resonated with you, share it with someone who needs it and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. Follow along on our socials:

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@conversationsthroughalz
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThroughALZ

Support the Alzheimer's Association by joining our Walk to End Alzheimer's team or donating: https://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2026/NY-WesternNewYork?pg=team&team_id=1057467&fr_id=19818

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This episode is a Q&A where we answer some of the most common questions we’ve gotten from support groups, forums, and our DMs about caregiving for someone with Alzheimer’s.

We cover the guilt that comes with getting frustrated or short with a loved one even when you know it’s the disease, how to know when it’s time to push for a cognitive evaluation instead of explaining symptoms away, and why Alzheimer’s rarely progresses in a straight line, plateaus can last a while and then something changes without warning. We also talk through what’s often called ambiguous grief, the experience of grieving someone who’s still alive, and the different ways we’ve each tried to process that, including finding gratitude for what our mom can still do rather than only focusing on what’s changed.

From there we get into sibling dynamics and how we’ve managed disagreeing on caregiving decisions without it damaging our relationship, and we answer the question we get asked most often: why we chose to share something this personal publicly instead of keeping it private, including how it feels different watching supportive comments come in from podcast listeners versus the more anonymous judgment that can show up on TikTok.

This episode covers Alzheimer’s caregiver guilt, when to seek an Alzheimer’s evaluation, ambiguous grief and dementia, sibling conflict in caregiving, and why we’re documenting our mom’s early onset Alzheimer’s journey publicly.

Support the show

Thanks for walking this journey with us. Conversations Through Alzheimer's is hosted by sisters Amber and Felicia, and new episodes drop every Monday through September 2026.

If this show has resonated with you, share it with someone who needs it and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. Follow along on our socials:

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@conversationsthroughalz
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThroughALZ

Support the Alzheimer's Association by joining our Walk to End Alzheimer's team or donating: https://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2026/NY-WesternNewYork?pg=team&team_id=1057467&fr_id=19818

Send us Fan Mail

This is a real-time early-onset Alzheimer’s update from our mom Rosemary’s two-week visit to see us in New York this summer, documenting what we noticed as the trip went on and what we learned about how much is too much right now.

We cover the travel logistics first to help support her: using a gate pass and the Sunflower program for hidden disabilities. Then we walk through the trip day by day: how good she seemed in the first few days, a pattern we started to notice where she seemed to be pushing herself to prove nothing was wrong, and the specific moments that showed us she was reaching what we started calling “cognitive fatigue” repeating the same questions and stories, getting turned around with directions and orientation, and struggling to make small decisions she normally wouldn’t think twice about.

We also talk honestly about the toll a long visit takes on the caregiver side, including the tension between wanting to protect her cognitive energy through advance planning and simply running out of our own capacity to do that, and the guilt that comes with needing space from someone you love and are also grieving in real time. We end with the question we’re still sitting with: whether shorter, more frequent visits are actually better for her wellbeing than longer ones, even when she strongly disagrees.

This episode covers early onset Alzheimer’s caregiving, cognitive fatigue in Alzheimer’s patients, traveling with someone who has Alzheimer’s, airport accommodations for hidden disabilities, caregiver burnout, and long-distance caregiving for a parent with dementia.

Support the show

Thanks for walking this journey with us. Conversations Through Alzheimer's is hosted by sisters Amber and Felicia, and new episodes drop every Monday through September 2026.

If this show has resonated with you, share it with someone who needs it and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. Follow along on our socials:

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@conversationsthroughalz
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThroughALZ

Support the Alzheimer's Association by joining our Walk to End Alzheimer's team or donating: https://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2026/NY-WesternNewYork?pg=team&team_id=1057467&fr_id=19818