OT August Chit Chat

[Sunshine]

Cherie, your schedule would overwhelm me even before my decline! I truly hope good things will come out of this for David.

Good tip about Zillow. Perhaps the best strategy is the direct one. I will call her and ask to meet up so she can tell me how she would market and sell the house. In the discussion, I will ask how many y houses she sold in 2018.

And perhaps do the same with two more realtors.

[Howie]

It's 92 degrees here right now. I had better get a sweater out.

[jendie]

It's 92 degrees here right now. I had better get a sweater out.

It was 71 in my apartment this morning Howie, you would have needed a coat.

[agate]

It's 92 degrees here right now. I had better get a sweater out.

Definitely! That thong you wear as your only garment just won't be enough.

[Howie]

This is the last day of August, but it's also payday. A holiday on Monday is the reason. I don't remember that happening before, but then I don't remember much these days.

So I went to bed a little before 2:00, but only slept a few hours. I'm drinking coffee now, and will have a second mug shortly. It will be a trash, bank, and store day. Get restocked again, THEN maybe I can get a nap.

Everyone have a great day!

[stillstANNding]

Enjoy your day, Howie. Don’t forget CVS.

ANN

[Cherie]

There is no traditional treatment for early onset dementia and a huge focus is not being placed on researching whether catching it early and treating it can prevent onset of Alzheimer's Disease or at least slow progression. That is why he is so eager to help and potentially get a med in the process. He was so mentally exhausted after the testing for both trials that he came home and slept for 45 minutes.. He also slept in the car on the way home. He had to use his brain and really focus and realized he just does not do that regularly any more.

[Howie]

Ann, I was at the drive through window at EXACTLY 8, and waited, and waited until I couldn't wait any longer. I had gone to the store, and had refrigerated items that I didn't want to get warm, so I left and came home.

I have enough meds to last through today, and tomorrow. I guess the weird timing of the holiday threw them off. They are on the "READY FILL" but I didn't get the notice they were ready like I usually do yet. So I'll go AGAIN when that arrives.

Thanks for keeping track.

[Sunshine]

Looking back :

18 months ago I stopped work. I was still walking pretty well, just not running or walking fast, or squatting. Memory was an issue.i was able to drive to the beach 3x week and walk to the waters edge, and surf.

Now, of course, these things are impossible.

So I got a text from an excellent employee, asking how a.m. I. That caused me to look back when I last saw her 18 months ago, before closing the business due to MS. And I realized how rapidly I declined. No wonder it’s bewildering! It wasn’t insidious, it all happened within a year...

It reminds me of many similar stories here....

[Howie]

I was DXed with MS and was still able to work about 9 more months. Then the second exacerbation struck, and it was a dozy. I knew my working days were over.

I filed for SS disability, and had to wait 6 months for that to go through. So I moved from the apartment where I had lived comfortably for 10 years. I moved in with my mom, and my dad had recently passed away.

She was soon DXed with Alzheimer's, and didn't last long. She moved into an assisted living facility, and shortly afterwards, she had a fatal heart attack. I then inherited money they left for us 3 kids.

I then bought this place, built a garage, turned Pinky into the hotrod I had always wanted, and the rest is history.

Life is a strange thing.

[agate]

Alzheimer's is so sad. Losing her to that devastating disease must have been terrible.

I guess there are a few ways of making life easier if a person has memory problems--aids to memory like lists or signalling reminders. There are some high tech devices too now--medicine reminders that beep for you so you'll remember when to take which medicine.

Those of us with MS who have caring family members and/or friends are very grateful, I'm sure.
I feel especially sorry for anyone who gets MS but has no family, or no family willing or able to help. Those people are out there struggling.

[Sunshine]

Howie, thanks for posting your story.

I am reading a great book, All Over But the Shoutin by Rick Bragg
I highly recommend it. He grew up in soul crushing poverty in Alabama and honors his mother for her strength and fortitude. He became a famous journalist, write for the NYT, beautiful essays on the forgotten , the traumatized, on his time in Haiti, on the South etc.

Anyway, I can imagine him writing a story about many of us here. Who struggle but maintain their honor and dignity.

Someone once said Bragg lent dignity to his subjects. He refuted it and he essentially said he highlighted the dignity that was already there.

I highly recommend the book, if you like to read. It’s in my Top Ten books I’ve read in the last 20 years.