Posted 10/24/22
And David came to Baal-perazim, and David defeated them there. And he said, “The Lord has burst through my enemies before me like a bursting flood.” Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim. -2 Sam 5:20
This may feel a bit like a rerun, but I can assure you that it is not. 🙂
Did you play Red Rover when you was a middle school/high school student? They loved me or hated me in this one depending on my team…! If you can’t remember or if it was called something else, as a refresher, watch this video explaining the game:
This game is the perfect picture of dementia prevention. Here is your best line:
- Cardio Bee– Cardio is a strong runner. She not only can run a lot, she can do it without pooping out. She has a strong heart. (and, BTW…what is good for the heart is good for the brain!!! If you remember nothing else from my odd little team, remember that.)
- Mario Linguini– Mario is from Italy (well, ok, somewhere in the northern Mediterranean.) He is tall and lean with long arms. He isn’t beefed up like most super skilled Red Rover players, but he has a strong grip and makes for a tough teammate to bust through. His diet: same as his family origin.
- Talkie McTalkface– Talkie is also a great teammate. He is motivational for his teammates. He uses his strongest attribute, his flapping gums, to help his team be prepared. “Cardio, she is coming your way!!! Brace for impact!”, Talkie might screech! He is never alone, it seems, and is involved everywhere he goes. Quite a teammate. He knows we need to be in community and stay engaged, and he goes overboard in this area!
- Dark Helmet Helen– Dark Helmet Helen is the preparer. She wears gloves, shin guards, and eye protection, and gets some for the team too. While she may be teased occasionally, her team always appreciates her gear, especially several rounds in. Helen’s favorite protective gear? Her Darth Vader stenciled helmet. She wears it everywhere she goes whether she is playing a sport or reading a Sci-fi because, you only get one brain (and damaging/repeating hitting the noggin/brain can cause dementia!
- Sir Jack, counter of beans- Sir Jack is the master of numbers. He can apply physics to know just how and where to try to cross. He always knows all the relevant stats: number of teammates, temperature/humidity (sweaty hands are easier to separate!), and the rest. He probably even knows (and regulates) his blood pressure, Cholesterol, and blood sugar, all essential to brain health and being a stellar Red Rover player…)
- Yawn Slothington- Yawn may be asleep at the wheel sometimes, but she is sharp when she wakes up. She is kind of a sleep expert, always shooting to get in 3 sleep cycles every day, in between killing it in Red Rover.
- Karen Nohsmokes- If her name accounts for anything, Karen seems to be born an advocate for making smoking illegal. She loves her lungs and does her best to avoid dangerous fumes, cigarette smoke, and the like. She, like Cardio, can run a country mile without being winded, and is a must-have teammate.
- Piper Halfnote- Piper lulls the other team with her music (she learns a new one every year) and with screaming expletives in a foreign tongue at them (she also learns new languages when she can). She reminds me of a Pokemon with her weird, eclectic variety of skills, but she seems to help more than most!
- Pollyanna Halffull- Polyanna is the queen of good attitudes. There could be a 400 pound opponent barreling down toward her and she brushes it off with a smile and does her best. She is self-aware and introspective and guards her mental health…and those around her. What more can you ask for?
You know, though, the interesting thing about Red Rover is it really doesn’t guarantee anything to have a great team. If one had a bad game, or was over-hyped a bit, the other team may still break through. It is still much, much better to have the above team than to have an unprepared, sloppy team, but be aware that one of the savage things about the game is sometimes it defies logic.
Come to think of it, when mom was diagnosed in 2009 with “a mild case of dementia”, she was already paying a pretty good game of Red Rover, prevention-wise. She ate well, she exercise bordering too much, she was engaged in society, she played brain games as well as a lot of music on the piano. Her blood workup was still solid. Most every member of her Red Rover prevention team was top notch. However, she had smoked for decades prior to that, she had had at least a few concussions, and she had tremendous anxiety. Her line was weak in spots and strong in others.
Another interesting thing about this analogy is something of a stretch, but that has never stopped me before: When you break through the line you take the two you broke between to be on your team, thus weakening them and strengthening yourself. Sometimes I feel like all the disease needs is a chink in the armor and it can find that “tipping point” that Lisa Genova talks about. Break through the line and some good teammates cease to help. As a non-neuroscientist, and one with an IQ that, if it were a temperature instead, you would probably need a parka…but I hypothesize that something is up with the body’s system with dementia that inadvertently makes it worse. Perhaps something in the pathology of the disease is a weakness in your line, if you will. The sinister disease, seeing perhaps a scrawny computer geek getting his hand whited/purpled by the linebacker next to him, blasts through there. Both members come to its team. Much like chemotherapy would be a lot better if it only killed cancer, our system would fight dementia much better if it wouldn’t take the good stuff with it. Make sense? My mom’s most recent diagnostic instrument says this:
“There is age-appropriate involution with expected changes of ventricles and sulci, cisterns are not effected. There is no intraparenchymal area of restricted diffusion, mass effect or midline shift. Craniocervical junction is unremarkable. There is findings of partially empty sella. Orbits and paranasal sinuses are unremarkable. There are confluent (re: merging together…this is not a good thing) white matter changes predominately in the periventricular white matter suggestive of moderate small vessel ischemic disease ( not uncommon, but not good…). Given the patient’s diffuse volume loss (not good), the overall hippocampal volume loss (Not good) appears to be relatively symmetric but is advanced. (bad)”
Mom has lost too many members of her line. Heck, at this point there is one little fella in the line. The other team comes and goes at will and it is just a matter of time until this last team member falls.
I know this is a weird piece…I get that. It is a little bit digital and a lot corn. One small piece of bread for you as we throw up our hands…please know this. The team is invulnerable in heaven…so much so that the disease ceases to exist. No purple hands, no broken lines, only the joy of victory, His victory, remains!
Until then we fight, we try to prevent, we help and serve others with this disease, and we pray like nobody’s business. We might even join in some clinical studies. 🙂 Mine went well last week…article forthcoming. 🙂
#EndALZ
Update: Hung out with mom a bit yesterday. She seems stable although she always struggles with her eyes. Bright lights hurt her and always have. Hope to see her again tomorrow night if possible. BTW…she would have been a world class Red Roverer. She is strong and was very fast. 🙂
Here are some more prevention tools:
Also, take the upcoming free class from this school:
LINK (Seriously, this is very, very helpful and is free.)
BTW…this is post number 800!!!!!!!!!! Holy Smokes…that is a lot of birdcage liners… 😉
