More Number Nonsense

Posted 12-3-21

Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. Daniel 12:3

Did I mention that I like numbers? I also love weekends (and my job too…) Today’s date: 12-3-21. AKA 12321

Every experience with dementia is different. There are some common facets for sure, but because the disease is so diverse and the brain is soooooo complex, one has trouble predicting how pathology A will harm brain location A, not even considering all of the million environmental variables as well as comorbidities. All this being said, today’s date does remind me of my experience with mom and the Sweet 17. They, as far as I can tell, all started as a 1 in memory and other issues and got progressively worse until the apex…the three…then their decline actually and sadly hurt them enough to actually make many of the other areas of the disease appear to be less of a problem because of lack of even trying and not being close anyway. Does that make sense? Take falls, for instance. I was feeding mom supper yesterday (she did quite well and had her eyes open for much of the time!). There was a man with health issues, but who also wanted to walk a lot instead of sitting in his wheelchair. (TYPICAL, hard-headed man.) Mom was very fit and never had a fall issue until her dementia got worse. Then she would try to stand up like yesterday’s gentleman…and fell a lot. Put falling or fall in the search box and read more if you want, but spoilers…falling is TERRIBLE for these soldiers. 🙁 But, if they survive all of the falls, the numbers start to decline again…12321…and they end up chair-bound or bedfast.

Other experiences have followed this 12321 pattern too. I think of taking meds too. Mom would take her very few meds pre-dementia/early dementia…struggled mightily at mid-stage…and gobbles them just fine now. Anxiety was more of a 03430…but the bell curve is still there. She, frankly, doesn’t seem to have a care in the world today. Sadly, she may accomplish this now because she keeps her eyes closed most of the time. Put yourself in her shoes for a sec. Imagine, if you will, that you have mid-stage, ugly-on-you-dementia right now. Look to the right and left and straight for a second and see all of that stuff? Now imagine that you cannot process it. The TV. The phone. The book. The doorbell. Sounds and smells and other senses all take longer and longer to process…and you fall behind. New stimuli are coming fast and you are still processing the previous one. Terrible. That is the 3 of the 12321. That is Lucille Ball jamming candy down her gullet (or pants) here: