Flare-ups

It’s been months since my last communiqué and for that I am sorry.

Simply put there hasn’t been much to post; other than the occasional “flare up” of “Alz” life seemed to have fallen into a predictable, non eventful pattern.

I had a respite from the disease but, life being “life” and “Alz’” being “Alzheimer’s” things were bound to change.  

So, I am back, sharing the little things and the not so little things that have happened and that are happening now.

I haven’t been posting but I have been writing so some of what I’ll be sharing has already past so it’s out of time but not out of context.

It is odd and peculiar to this disease (and particularly cruel, I think) that weeks, even months can go by without incident then all of a sudden, as if someone turned “off” a switch, things that were routine and known are all at once foreign and unfamiliar.

Miss Cathy has gone from an occasional state of confusion to living in a place where simple acts; putting her shoes on the correct foot, disarming the security system and operating the television remote have become almost daily challenges.

Things that she’s done for years are now a struggle of some kind, I’ve watched as she seems to approach her routines with trepidation.

At first she made the usual excuses; food being burned (“The meat cooked too fast”) or not being able to operate the telephone (“Something is wrong with this phone, I need to call the telephone company”) and the remote (“I can’t see these numbers, they seem to be moving or something”) to a realization that it could possibly be something else, something more (“There’s something not right with my brain”)….and I agree.

Enough has happened that it’s time to get her ‘team’ (general practitioner, neurologist and even her ophthalmologist) back on board to check her out. Maybe she just needs new glasses, her diabetes could be a factor or her meds need  to be adjusted-or a combination of all the above.

No matter, it’s time to send a flare up to signal that the “Alz” has awaken from it’s slumber and it’s time to do battle; time to re-engage, re-learn and chart a new course of action.

I hope to get back to posting regularly and that you will continue to follow me on this journey-

Thank you