Posted 2/19/19 Swung by to hang with mom for a while before the Sleetnado began. She was sort of melancholy and disoriented today. I wouldn’t say completely sad as such…more like empty. We spent 20 minutes playing the slow motion version of my favorite “take the shoes and socks off and put them on again”…
Author: Mark Applegate
A Birthday to Remember
Posted late 2/18/19 We had the seniormost Sweet 17 princess celebrate her 102nd birthday this week. My kids are bewildered when I tell them of a world with no internet… Ms. E lived in the late 1910s. Lots of things weren’t around then. Her grandparents may have fought in the Civil War…Wowza. Mom had a…
Underdog
Posted 2/18/19 early I have dabbled off and on in semi-pro writing for over 20 years. The low minor leagues, if you will. A plump bat boy in the minor leagues at best. Even with my questionable grammar and my uber-liberal use of suffixes, prefixes, and oddball words, I have completed several thousand “How To”…
Spiders on the Brain
Posted later 2/17/19 For this week’s segment on the brain, I would like to briefly discuss a possible cause of dementia. I am not a neuroscience whiz, nor even a particularly brainy guy, but I love to read literature about the brain and how Alzheimer’s harms it, so I can try to understand the complexities…
Chain Gang
Posted early 2/17/19 Memory units are like….uhh…errr… lots of things. Yesterday, if you caught my post, you may remember that I was bragging about how sweet everyone was acting and that mom was doing just grand. I hung out several hours and even sat with the often docile Ms. W and talked all things teaching….
Ms. W: Red-Headed Fireball of a Teacher
Posted 2/16/19 Today I had a more extended visit than normal with mom and even had some time to visit with Sweet 17 member Ms.W. She is a red-headed fireball of a lady. She was a grade school teacher for 38 years in a school within 100 miles of the unit, retiring in 1988. She…
Snake Oil
Posted 2/15/19 b Old wives’ tales and home remedies. My ancestry had more than a few of them that went way back. Examples? When I would get swimmer’s ear, the plan of the day was to blow cigarette smoke in my ear to help it heal and stop the pain. My Grandma Applegate had me…
Thankful
2/15/19 Another extremely good day for mom yesterday. When she gets her meds, sleeps and has a “normal” digestive day, all seems to be stable after a few months of significant decline. 🙂 The atmosphere at the unit seems to be quieter these days too, which helps mom quite a bit. I am very thankful…
Adrenaline High
Posted 2/13/19 Mom had a terrible morning followed by a nice evening. You never really know what to expect when you punch in the door unlock code and walk in the memory unit. I had already received the report that she has been incorrigible all morning when I got there….how would it go??? Great. 🙂 We…
Distractions
Posted 2/12/19 Distractions are a huge challenge for mom. Whether it be too many drinks on her table, other people’s food too close to hers, too many audio or video inputs hitting her brain at once, or too many or too few stuffed animals on the piano, simple is better for her mind’s peace. Brains…