Forgot to answer this one. I don’t know “what-brained” I am, right or left, and lying on my back seems like I’m doing too much of already, monstro
The closest way to describe my apathetic behavior, is as the “poor little rich kid” who has so many toys, yet is too bored to play with them.
One thing I CAN do (and HAVE been doing) is my daily hygiene. When we lived with my sister-in-law my depression was so bad, there were mornings when I only brushed my teeth and that was it. At the most, a sponge bath.
Here in this whole house with just me and D, it does feel good to have all the room and take a shower every day.
There’s a line from that old movie “Oh, God” where George Burns as God tells John Denver to go and shave.
“Why”
“Because when you feel abnormal, you go and do something normal and that helps.”
That isn’t an exact quote, but I try to remember it.
Quasi I am so sorry you’re dealing with this…one of my best friends lost both her parents to Alzheimers; now in her 50s, she’s hyper-vigilant about signs and symptoms and has been doing a huge number of various supplements daily for years in hopes of warding it off…
I was going to say the early and middle stages look very much like depression as well. Except depression doesn’t tend to advance in discrete stages.
My ma died of Alzheimers 10 years ago. I currently work in a residential care facility for developmentally disabled folks, many with Downs who are progressing into the dementia.
Must be tough to be SO aware. My ma had glimpses every once in a while, mostly was in her own world.
Your story touches a lot of us.
I have joked when I forget lyrics, maybe I’m gettin’ it. Ain’t funny anymore, hearing your narrative.
Suzette, my Early Onset Alzheimer’s counsellor comes at 10 in the morning. She visits us and a couple of other families and usually has some “assignments” for me to do. The last one was to get myself an appointment calendar and plan an activity a day and write it in.
Then I’m supposed to do that activity - even if it’s only working on the blog, which I have been doing more often recently, so I’ll have that to show her as well as a little Warcraft I got in this afternoon.
I am very fortunate to have her as my counsellor and her visits are paid for by a grant from the feds. Format is simple: 30 minutes with me alone and 30 with D alone, and nothing is discussed by Suzette with either of us about the other and neither of us ask the other what was talked about. It works well that way.
It is frustrating to me that I have SO many people behind me that care, and I can’t seem to improve on my own. I really need those Alzheimer’s drugs and am hoping to see a difference once they get into my system.
So thanks, guys and please know that I appreciate all of you.
Love, if you (or anybody else who’s sick) could improve on your own, my sister in law would be out of a job. As would irishgirl, QtM and so many others (picu, you’re retired, right?)
So, uh, thanks for helping all those people stay employed!
Now there’s a silver lining! I’m sure my friends and former co-workers in pharmaceuticals are also quite appreciative!
Quasi, I think every last one of us that reads your threads wishes we could just fix it; wishes that we could just write that one piece of advice that would make everything better. These threads are interesting and amazing while also being horrifying and heartbreaking. I hope you can get on the new medication soon and that it makes a world of difference in your life. We can all hope that maybe the next one will make everything better…!
My Mom was on Thalidomide for much of the last two years. Good thing she didn’t get knocked up! (For those who don’t know me, I’m 51, and my Mom is, well, older than 51.) Quasi, they do have pictures of deformed babies on the box. :eek:
In my Mom’s case the Thalidomide had very few side effects, but your mileage may vary.
Agreed. I bave bipolar and am going through a very tough time with my husband’s cancer treatment. I hope things get better for you soon. It sucks to feel this way. And whoever said if you can type at a computer then things might not be as bad as you think had a really good point. A day that I don’t turn on the computer is a really bad day. Warm positive energy coming your way.
Heh - as Typo Knig mentioned, they’re finding all sorts of new uses for the stuff, which was not touched for decades due to the pregnancy disasters :(.
My mother-in-law (Typo’s mother) took it for a year or so for multiple myeloma (a kind of blood cancer).
Of course, the fact that it’s 50 years old and “out of patent” didn’t make it any cheaper, since apparently the manufacturer got a newer patent because of the newer uses. Which I can’t argue with TOO much - I guess they paid a lot to do the later research… but was still quite a financial blow. Her other drugs (dexamethasone and a blood thinner) were much cheaper.
Yeah, the blog has really been good for me in sitting at the computer, because it’s a kind of diary as well as keeping me doing something. Also, the blog allows me a chance to use my writing/journalistic skills, and I like to think I’ve developed a style of writing that’s pretty much my own. By that I mean, if I were to post here and for some reason my name didn’t show, most of you would know who it was anyway.
I also use my function as an Alzheimer’s Advocate to keep up with research and legislation that affects all of us with dementias, and as I stated in my blog and here many times, I am doing my best to remain proactive rather than reactive. There are times, however, when I need a little help and that’s why I turn to y’all here. I know some of you must be saying to yourselves, “Oh shit, there he goes again”, but I can’t tell you how much it means to have my own “online support group” to go to when I need a pep talk.
I have a pet. His name is Bert and he’s a rescue. Bert is a Maine Coon and one of the most loving animals I have ever owned. He’s very good company, as is my grandson Julian when he gets to visit us. I am teaching him drums and he has a drum pad, sticks, a book and dvd at home and is practicing. I’m really stuck on him and wish he didn’t live so far away.
So you see, I do have activities to keep me busy. I just have to push through the apathetic times, and that’s tough to do when I’m alone in the house and D’s at work.
“Some days are diamonds, some days are stone” and today is a “diamond day”, so I’ll go to work on my next blog entry and do some chores.
