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…
Author: Mark Applegate
Christian, husband, and dad...and a workplace chiropractic geek and cornbread chef on the side. I am also happily the Director of Systems Alignment for the SeniorAge Area Agency on Aging.
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…
Fixing What is Broken
2/11/19 Oh, the little things sure add up. Mom has struggled mightily with digestive issues the last week, but that has been resolved the last couple days. Tack to that finally finding a viable pill hiding vehicle (ground up and put in yogurt), and today went great! 🙂 It is nice to have a win…
A Crown Gained
Posted late 2/10/19 Sadly another of the Sweet 17 has gained her princess crown. Screamin’ Mrs. M., I will call her, was a damsel in distress that has now been rescued by the King and taken to the land with no Alzheimer’s. She didn’t say a lot, and what she said was super loud and…
The Hippocampus
Posted 2/10/19 Depending on which of the many semi-reliable sources for such information, wild tigers (not in zoos) kill between 50 and 2,000 people worldwide. These ferocious felines (Panthera tigris), according to mascotdb.com, are ranked number two behind the Eagles as the most popular sports mascots in the United States, numbering in the thousands. Hippos, on…