A busy time

My husband's brother just left after spending five days with us. It has been 25 years since he has been to visit us. It was nice having him here. But, it was definitely hard -- havingsomeone else in the house. I'm glad he came though -- it gave my husband someone else to play tennis and golf with.

The weather has been awful down here -- lots of heat and humidity so you don't feel like doing much. Unfortunately over the weekend and through the 4th of July weekend it will be more of the same.

I'm not planning on doing much. It is going to take me awhile to get rested up from having company. I didn't realize what a toll it would take on me.

On another note, I had a weird dream last night. I hope it wasn't a premonition of some sort. But I remember going around and telling everyone that they need to let everyone in their life know how important they are and how loved they are because life is just too short. I was running around all over town telling people that -- kind of strange I know. They all looked at me like I was crazy but I kep telling them that they would thank me for it later. So, I guess I should take my own advice and thank all of you for your friendship and love -- maybe that's what dreams are for!

Support Groups

This morning I spoke to a local support group. I've spoken to them in the past but what makes these folks different is that they are proactive. By that I mean that many of the people are not in the support group because they are caring for someone with Alzheimer's, but most have had family members in the past with Alzheimer's and they just want to learn more about the disease. I commend them for doing that. Their group keeps getting larger and larger and I'm always so pleased to see them. They always have great questions and I've said before, it does me more good I think than them. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to them and any group.

On another note, my brother-in-law is coming today for a five day visit. We have lived here for 26 years and he came down a couple of months after we moved in and has never been back. We visit him in St. Louis, but for various reasons he hasn't made it back down here. He lost his wife to cancer at Christmas time. I'm anxious for him to be here but at the same time hope he doesn't take it personally if I don't interact with him like I used to. He isn't used to being around me and I definitely need my quiet time. I told my husband to warn him that I wasn't been rude if I had to leave the room to "escape". But, I'm glad he is coming -- it will do him good to get away for a few days.

Concentration

I'm amazed at how much effort it takes for me to concentrate on something. It's odd that the act of concentrating has become a conscious effort instead of something that comes automatically. I am constantly having to remind myself what my tasks are and staying on task. I've been trying to play some golf with my husband and after about four holes my concentration is gone as well as my game.......that's not saying I had a great game to begin with......but it certainly goes down hill after that. I can't remember how many shots I've made (which might be a good thing!) or even where I am aiming.

That's rather frustrating.

Bad Days

It's been awhile since I've had what I consider a "bad day". But this week I did. I usually don't go out much in the afternoon because I do better in the morning. I had a doctor's appointment at 2:30 on Monday and I decided since I was going to be out I would try to run a couple of errands before going to the appointment. Well, I should have thought about that before doing it. Going out in the stores later in the day for me is not good. There are just too many people and I get confused too much. Needless to say I was very frustrated. I needed to go about two miles from my last errand to the doctor and it took me over an hour to get there. I was just so confused I couldn't make it from point A to point B in a rational way. I called my husband several times for help, but he was not reachable by phone. It is always odd that I know enough to call him for assistance but that I can't get to where I'm going. Although, something that did change this time is, that I know that I can always call other people for assistance, but I couldn't do that on Monday. That thought was not something that even entered my mind, until after the episode was over.

When I finally arrived at the doctor's office (half an hour late) I had forms to fill out since I had not been to that particular doctor in awhile. And, of course, that was a big challenge. I had lots of blanks on the form because I just could not answer the simplest of questions. It's so frustrating.

I was glad to see Monday come to an end.

Some Good Things

Yesterday, our Memory Walk Committee held their first meeting for Team Captains. The turn out was great -- it is the third year we have done this and it was great to see how the event has grown. I've been on the committee for two years but stepped away this year because it was a little much for me. But I am so proud of what everyone has done, how the committee has expanded and all the things they have accomplished. I feel bad I didn't do more -- but I know they are on the right track and I am so happy. I really feel like we can meet our goal of raising $50,000 this year.

I also got a call from someone that had been at a recent meeting discussing clinical trials and some other things that have been doing on in the research field for Alzheimer's. Although I don't want to get too excited because I have had my hopes dashed before, it appears there are now twelve different drugs in final clinical trial stages that have the potential to slow the progression of the disease down or prevent it all together --- wouldn't that be some wonderful news. It's still a few years off but if I can hold out a little longer perhaps it can do me some good. I'll certainly be keeping my eyes on that!

Elizabeth Taylor

I don't know if you saw the news stories lately about Elizabeth Taylor having Alzheimer's. Each week, I get news stories emailed to me by Google that have to do with Alzheimer's and last week there were many stories about Elizabeth Taylor having Early stage Alzheimer's. These stories came from lots of newspapers, not just tabloids, but I don't know their sources.

Anyway, Ms. Taylor then went on Larry King Live and proclaimed that she did not have Alzheimer's. Her interview probably did not affect you the way it did me but I was very upset with it. She claimed on the show "do I look like I have Alzheimer's? Do I look like I'm dying, do I sound like someone who has Alzheimer's?" Just what is someone suppose to "look like" when they have Alzheimer's? Ms. Taylor -- I don't "look like" I have Alzheimer's either -- but I do. I'm not ashamed of it -- it's a disease and I have it. Her attitude about this disease is what we must all fight -- people have to deal with it just like all other kinds of diseases.

Can you see this bothered me? I hope others are bothered by it as well.