Posted 6/12/24 (How cool of a date is that??? It doubles each number. 🙂 )
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Phil 2:3
I am a huge fan of Sherlock. I admit that am behind the curve a little in my fandom, only having read a couple of the books, but I have loved the movies and especially the BBC series. It is on my list should I ever have reading time to read many more of the originals. I also liked Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s entries (yes, THAT Kareem….) into the Sherlock Universe! One that jumps out to me in the BBC series is called A Study in Pink, based very loosely on the original A Study in Scarlet. I won’t give away the story too much, but there is a critical clue found in the solving of a murder: Written in red on a nearby wall is the word “RACHE”. Rache is an interesting word…or part of a word? What could it possibly mean? (Cue suspenseful music…)… You will have to watch or read to find out.
Mysteries… Sigh. Dementia, too, is a mystery to me and to many, many who are much smartererer than me. Perhaps I will call this piece of birdcage liner A Study in Contrasts. Why contrasts, deerstalker-wearin’ blog boy? Enter your Mind Palace with me and see the many mysteries…and seeming mysteries in tile looking glass with me…
- Why do some have Beta Amyloid plaque and/or Tau Neurofibrillary tangles and NOT develop the disease…and why do some with the disease not?
- Why did mom demand to wear mittens on walks when it was 95 degrees?
- Why does Mrs. R at the nursing home steal her neighbor’s food while ignoring her own?
- Why is getting a bath so dang hard, but walking around naked for some of the same folks isn’t?
- Why would a person like my mom, in very good physical and mental condition get the disease?
- Why would mom “hoard” a pillowcase full of her most important things so she wouldn’t lose them and have it include a couple dirty pieces of silverware but not her favorite antique doll from her childhood?
- Why can some remember perfectly what happened in 1956 but lose the memory of the five words they were asked to remember on a memory test?
- (2018-9) Where did mom’s dentures go, but why can we find dirty tissues in the dresser?
- Why does music turn mom’s rigid arms softer but the news makes them more stiff? Oh, and why do they show the news to these poor folks in the nursing home anyway?
- Why offer Leqembi but stall Donanemab…until today 🙂 ?
- Why are some amazing doctors fearless lions on most conditions passive and/or downright disinterested in dementia?
- Why are seniors sometimes the biggest meanies when it comes to folks with dementia?
- Why does the safety net care so much more if you make $1 below the Medicaid line than it does $1 above?
- Why is the brain so hard to study? (BTW…is using our brain to study a brain getting inside information?)
- Why do I work for one non-profit and still raise money for a different one?
- On a related note, why would a 300 pound blogger walk 5 straight days as a fundraiser instead of, perhaps, having a hot dog eating event?
- Why does this disease stink soooo bad? (Not really a contrast, but I have opinions.
There are contrasts and dichotomies abounding here…but many have answers. I will work on these answers for my next post, but I welcome your answers and your contrasts to add to my list in the meantime and I will add answers to my answer piece. 🙂
#EndALZ
Here is my fundraiser page. We have broke the $900 mark now on a base goal of $1600, one for every minute on the summer solstice. 🙂 My stretch goal every year is, of course, $5280 and here is an article that explains that number. I would love to not plug this fundraiser all the time, but we are where we are. Research, education, advocacy, and care for the caregiver are super expensive. (Perhaps the most expensive ailment to treat…) Some sweet day we will have a battery of cures that will make this fundraising moot, but until then, we raise money. Thank you very much!!