My Alzheimer's Journey
Part 30 - Quick Check In
Hello, Followers, Subscribers, Friends, and Family.
I hope the first day of November is going well for you. November 1 always brings back good memories for me. Many years ago, when my job required frequent travel to Mexico, I enjoyed being in Mexico for Day of the Dead. The altars were beautiful. November 1 also kicks off the holiday season for me. As a child, teenager, and young adult, I looked forward to Thanksgiving when the family would be together. The past few years, Linda and I (and the cats!) travel to the Washington, DC area to spend Thanksgiving with family. Our trip this year will be brief due to my treatments.
Please share a special Thanksgiving memory with me.
What do you think of the new logo?
The blog is growing so we decided it was time to create a brand. Maybe, there will be tee-shirts and sweatshirts one day.
Some of my AD symptoms are worsening, and some new symptoms are appearing. This is concerning and disappointing. My memory has worsened a bit. For example, I was placing a grocery order this afternoon, and I could not remember the brand name of the water we drink daily. My writing has definitely worsened (it takes me a very long time to write blog posts.) A new symptom is me getting agitated easily. Stress, lack of sleep, loud noises, and unexpected events trigger agitation. I am working on prevention and management techniques.
To leave you on a positive note, I read a post from Greg Nelson this morning. He is someone who also suffers from Alzheimer’s. He talks about “stretches of calm” along the AD journey. I look forward to a calm period.
Thank you for your support and encouragement.
I love that you take the cats for thanksgiving. Hope you get more calm periods soon
I thought it might be good to read this chronologically - so I'm behind! Thank you again for writing this all down. I blog daily but it is a personal blog. My AD is just starting. I've had the hereditary test and it said I'm a 3/4 allele. The 4 is the AD allele. I had the p-tau 217 scoring - I think that measures the tau in your blood. Normal is 0-.18 and I have .21. I just wanted a baseline to start with. My friend who is "ahead" of me was much, much higher.
Like you, I forget things easily. Yes, the grocery store and the home improvement stores are trouble as I can sometimes wander around and wonder, "Why did I come down to aisle 17?" I remember that I'm supposed to remember something and can even put a letter on it "It starts with ..." or "It sounds like ..." and those things are surprisingly accurate.
Depression ... I internalize it. Apathy ... I don't care about it. ;-)
Thanks again for writing this stuff down. It is very helpful.