Long weekend

As I said in my last post, the NCAA men's and women's tennis tournament is currently in Athens. I've been going every day. As someone who has played tennis all her life, I can appreciate the way these college students play since I'll never be able to play that way! It's been hot out there watching -- it was in the 90's all day yesterday. But, it is tiring sitting there for four or five hours at a stretch. Last night going on about the fourth hour of watching the tennis I realized my brain was so tired that I couldn't follow what was going on and I couldn't keep track of the score. I was looking at the scoreboard but it didn't make sense to me. I had to ask my husband which numbers I needed to look at.....sad -- very sad -- for me.

A few random thoughts --

The University of Georgia has been hosting the men's and women's national tennis championships the last few days. Action will continue for about the next week or so. I've been going to some of the matches. This year, the noise of the crowd (yes, tennis crowds can get loud) has been bothering me. The first day I forgot my ear plugs, but you can be sure I had them the following days.

One bit of class I saw yesterday was that the Virginia men's team that was playing had on patches that honored the Virginia Lacrosse player that was murdered a few weeks. What a nice touch --

The CBS Early Morning show ran a three part series on Alzheimer's this week. I couldn't copy and paste the proper address here for some reason, but if you go to www.cbsnews.com and search for Alzheimer's they will come up. Important information.

Also, I'd like to say best of luck to Kate Gordon at the Public Policy office for the Alzheimer's Association. She's leaving the office in Washington DC to work for the Institute on Aging -- she'll still be a help to us in her new capacity. Kate was a joy to work with and someone I consider a friend. She was always there for you when you needed her -- and she still will be. You'll be missed Kate!

New Information

The Alzheimer's Association has just released a new report regarding the trajectory of Alzheimer's Disease. This is important information -- if we don't do something now, this will tell you what is going to happen. For more information go here www.alz.org.
That is why our fundraising efforts are so important.

Thanks

to all of you that have sent emails to me lately, wondering about my whereabouts on this blog. Sorry I haven't written -- I'm here. Just having a problem getting my thoughts in order and typing them out. I seem to have a problem lately with getting my thoughts organized and out whether they are in written or verbal form. I went to the neurologist last week and he told me that he thought that I had gotten a little worse in my "delayed speech pattern". Which basically meant that I was having a hard time getting my words out. I told him I thought so too, but then he looked at me and said, "you know, there isn't anything I can do for you". Which although I know that is true, it's hard to hear sometimes.

It's frustrating for me when I can have whole conversations in my head that I want to have with someone, but I can't get the words out.

My husband has been gone for about a week. He's home today. I know I have said it before, that when he is away and I am home alone, it is so much easier on me. He knows this too so I'm not saying anything out of line. I am amazed at how much easier it is -- not from the physical things I usually do like cleaning, cooking and dishes, but mentally. I find that I can stay up longer at night because I'm not as mentally tired from having someone around all the time. And I get much more stressed when my husband is around, not sure what that is all about, but I would probably be stressed with anyone around --that isn't aimed at him! My husband doesn't talk much, but he is a pacer -- he paces all over the house during the day. I'll be in one room trying to "do my own thing" and he will come in there many many times during his pacing. Each time it interrupts what I am doing and although he says he doesn't want anything, it's still an interruption in my brain. It's amazing how these little things will get to me. And, of course, the noise is an issue -- which it gets worse and worse. I think I might have had the television set on a total of about 5 or 6 hours during the entire time he was gone. Counter that with the almost non-stop television set being on when he is home, it sure makes a difference. He is getting better about wearing earphones with the televsion set, but it is still bothersome. A friend of mine with AD, just had some custom made ear plugs made that he says blocks out all the noise except for conversations. He says he can ride in the car with his wife with the radio on and not hear the radio but he can hear her when she talks. I might look into that. We have finished converting my son's old bedroom into a "quiet room" for me and it has certainly been a great place for me to go to achieve some peach and quiet.

On another note, my friend Carol and I went to Macon last week to an Alzheimer's fundraiser with the band Diamond Rio. It was lots of fun to be away together and the concert was really nice. Thanks Carol -- for being my chaueffer and most of all my friend for all these years -- Sainthood might be up there for you too! Carol will certainly understand this.

The Principle of the Thing

They always say - it's not how old you look, but how young you feel, right? Well, how come it aggravates me to no end, that when I go grocery shopping on Wednesdays, they always give me the senior citizen discount, when it doesn't apply to me!!!! It's just the principle of the thing.