OT Oliver Sacks

Very sorry. Our prayers are with you, and your family.

I'm truly sorry to hear that. In the close-knit society I live in, we probably see and feel more loved ones suffer and eventually go than you do in the west, but it's still hard.

The first Chief Minister of my state, a close family friend, was the first Alzheimer's case I personally knew. More recently, my mother-in-law, a lovable diminutive lady, had Alzheiner's in her

80s but she died two years ago from pancreatic cancer before the Alzheimer's became too advanced.

I know family friends and in-laws aren't in the same category as one's own mother. But I think I can understand at least a bit of what you're feeling.

Hi George, I'm really sorry to hear this. If I may ask, how was she diagnosed? In the early stages at least, _only_ a geriatric neuropsychologist is qualified to make that sort of diagnosis. The short "MEMS" test is not sufficient, and has many false positives. There are many conditions that can mimic AD but might be treatable.

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Hell! If you're snarky with the snotty nurse you'll get labeled demented... I was several visits ago. Now when the nurse pulls that MEMS routine, I whip out a Calculus problem and say, as soon as you can solve this I'll answer your questions, otherwise go away. The nurse was really miffed... my doc thought that was hilarious. ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
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I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Thanks Robert.

Thanks Pimpom, My biggest headache at the moment is long term care. She was set up to go into retirement community.. a small apartment where she could keep her dog. Now with the memory issues she would have to go into a different area... more supervision, and no dog! She loves here dog and I think would rather have a bullet in the head than give him up.

George H.

Hi bitrex, I'm pretty much new to Alzheimer's.. She had an brain MRI that showed a small hippocampus. The doctors don't know for sure, Alzheimer's is their best guess.

George H.

Sorry to heat that. We've had a bit of it in our family, it is a pretty awful way to go, especially for the family members.

Our prayers are with you and your mom!

Jon

(sigh) Sorry to hear that. My grandmother suffered from dementia (back then, diagnoses of that sort tended to be vague: "hardening of the arteries", etc.) An uncle (same blood line) died of what I suspect was actually Alzheimer's.

Without prying into specifics, you might want to look for another opinion. Lots of gerontological ailments can look similar, symptomatically. E.g., it would be "unfortunate" to belatedly discover that she had a cardiac problem that was manifesting with her current symptoms (esp as *it* may end up being the "defer-able" cause of death *and* a treatable problem for the here and now! E.g., a weekend with a halter-monitor would be a small price to pay for *some* additional data; aortic/carotid imaging; etc.

And, (said as gently as possible) you may want to look into the genetic ramifications for yourself, siblings, offspring, etc. :-/

Dunno. There are some pretty nasty cancers out there! :<

Top of my Least Desired Ways To Die list is now ALS -- having watched a friend go that route (over the course of several years).

"I want to die peacefully, in my sleep, like Grandpa. Not screaming in terror like the folks on the bus he was driving!"

Mine too.

Phil Hobbs

My mother was diagnosed as having incipient Alzheimers in 2006. We were war ned that she'd need to be moved into care in about 18 months, but she never took this seriously, and was mightily peeved when it happened.

With her it mainly manifested itself as a problem with short term memory. S he remained mentally agile to the end, but this manifested itself as a capa city to construct a plausible story around the facts that she could recall, and some of her more bizarre constructions did get passed around the famil y.

Her personality remained intact, and I spent an hour or so in agreeable con versation with her only ten days before she - unexpectedly - died (at 95 in 2013).

Cancer hurts, and disables. I've had friends die of it. My plan is to get h it by a meteorite.

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Bill Sloman, Sydney

Ouch! Sorry to hear that.

Can you take the dog and bring it with when you visit?

arned that she'd need to be moved into care in about 18 months, but she nev er took this seriously, and was mightily peeved when it happened.

She remained mentally agile to the end, but this manifested itself as a ca pacity to construct a plausible story around the facts that she could recal l, and some of her more bizarre constructions did get passed around the fam ily.

onversation with her only ten days before she - unexpectedly - died (at 95 in 2013).

hit by a meteorite.

Thanks Bill (And Phil), She's still plenty intelligent. Besides the short term memory loss there is also a childlike lack of what is socially acceptable. We've talked about having her move in with us. My wife would have to be a child keeper all over again, just as the kids are growing up.

George H.

Yeah taking the dog is no problem... We've got 2-cats 2-dogs already another one will hardly be noticed. (Her dog loves it out here.) One idea is to have her sleep over here on Saturday nights. She can hang out with her dog two days a week.

George H.

We're meeting with a Dr. tomorrow to discuss the whole thing... which is why it's bubbling out of me today.

Thanks all of you, for the kind words.

Geo

That's a great plan, as long as possible.

You might want to do some reading before you meet with the Dr. and write down any questions you have. I wish I had done more reading and had written my questions down. With everything happening during the appointment I forgot half the questions I had and it's hard to ask later (the next time I talked to the doctor, I was a few days out of recovery - a little late ;).

You certainly have our sympathies. You're right, it will be harder on you than it is her.

warned that she'd need to be moved into care in about 18 months, but she n ever took this seriously, and was mightily peeved when it happened.

y. She remained mentally agile to the end, but this manifested itself as a capacity to construct a plausible story around the facts that she could rec all, and some of her more bizarre constructions did get passed around the f amily.

conversation with her only ten days before she - unexpectedly - died (at 9

5 in 2013).

et hit by a meteorite.

None of my extended family was game to take on that kind of responsibility. I certainly wasn't, and settling her in the Netherlands would have been di fficult at all sorts of levels. My younger brother would have liked to sett le her in a nursing home in Sydney, but she wouldn't go along with the idea while she was still living at home, and when the people who were keeping h er going in her own home decided that it wasn't safe any more, getting her from Melbourne to Sydney really wasn't an option, particularly when my youn gest brother had found a perfectly splendid nursing home about a mile from her house.

My mother's consciousness of what was socially acceptable remained with her to the end. Every last one of the prescribed social rituals would appear a t the proper moment. When she was younger she'd made jokes about how she'd been drilled in doing the right things as a kid ...

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Bill Sloman, Sydney

Sorry to hear that.

My father died suddenly of a heart attack last year at 92 having suffered from Alzheimers for the past couple of years. He remained alert and able to ace the memory tests despite having almost no short term memory. It was only from MRI scan that a diagnosis became clear.

In conversation he was entirely plausible although would invent facts to match the situation as he saw it which could be dangerous since he would insist that everything was fine when it wasn't.

I had a close friend at university die very painfully of bone cancer. I would not wish that on anyone.

I don't think any human has ever been killed by a meteorite yet in all of recorded history although a few very unlucky animals have.

Various animals have been anecdotally hit and killed by meteorites

There are a couple of nerve agent related drugs which might or might not help but are useless if there is a history of falls and also there is a suspicion that statins might make things worse (but unclear).

I second the suggestion to write down all your questions in advance and to keep a journalists small notepad with you at all appointments to take contemporaneous notes of who what when and how. It is incredibly difficult to remember everything you get told afterwards without notes or to remember what you had intended to ask during a consultation.

Sorry to hear you have this problem too. Take care.

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Regards, 
Martin Brown

That's one of those nasty conditions when symptoms become apparent it's too late to do anything about it. There are plaque inhibitors but they need to be started about 30 years previous. This Alzheimer's seems to be not only epidemic but a new epidemic.

George, so sorry about your mom. Dementia took my grandmother slowly, and it was a hard thing.

Best, James