Posted 8/4/21
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them? Psalm 8:4
Hi to all my many fellow cornbreaded friends! 🙂 It has been a year and a gross of days since we had unfettered access to visit our loved ones in memory care. 509 stinkin’ days! Uggggh. However, I will not let it get me down and neither should you. It is a beautiful day in the Ozarks. We are sitting at around 80-85 degrees with manageable humidity…what’s more to ask for than that??? Mom is doing better, relatively speaking, the last 2 outdoor visits. She has had her eyes open and is only somewhat drawn up, so hopefully that means she is not in any pain. Smooth sailing with her has allowed me a little time to work on the Walk to End Alzheimer’s event locally. As of 8/4/21 at lunchtime all is a go to do an outside, distanced and careful event. My hope is to have nearly 1,000 people masked and distanced and sharing burdens and joy together on the morning of 9/25. Here is my page if you want to join our team (virtually or in-person):
https://act.alz.org/site/TR?fr_id=14596&pg=personal&px=14575499
Have you attended a Walk like this before for our little cause? If not, you need to come this year! There is so much to learn about, not the least of which is a simple, yet profound concept: You are NOT ALONE! This was such an emotional and freeing thought to me the first event I attended that I will always find at least one or two to attend every year until I cannot any more.
Here are a couple of quick videos about the yearly event:
And my little appeal to join is here:
Holy Moley I am photogenic! 🙂 OK…by photogenic what I mean is not photogenic…but you get da point. 😉
I am not good at asking for money. I drive a 91 Ford Tempo GL (I think the GL is short for GLUG GLUG, the sound it makes on a good day). I have a family. We rent the same house we have for 7 years. I know that you expect that the shirt I am wearing is from Nordstrom, but it is actually from red Racks Thrift shop. I say all of this NOT to have you feel bad for me and my plight, for I am super blessed in most every way possible, but to let you know that I understand that giving hard-earned money is hard. I get it and will never judge you nor think a negative thought about you if you never give a penny. 🙂 Come to the Walk anyway. Give if you can, but come to a walk either way. It is a great opportunity. We have a solid 6-7 weeks I think until our walk on September 25th. Several Walks are the weekend before and after ours. Find one or walk with us virtually. 🙂
#EndALZ
Clinical trial updates:
My first visit on one of my clinical trials (KU) was Monday. It was quite cool. It is studying the effect of statin drugs on muscles and semi-vicariously the brain. If approved after the mini-physical I had Monday, I will be at the research hospital’s facility 4 different times for a total of around 25 hours. I will have a biopsy of my thigh and many other tests to monitor and evaluate what all is happening as a result of this class of drugs, with my family history of dementia in mind. The staff at the clinic were soooo nice, I look forward to helping them any way I can.
In 2 weeks I will be doing my first screening for a wonderful longitudinal study that will have me there every 3 years until I turn 65, then yearly. This study will escalate to yearly should dementia biomarkers show mild cognitive impairment or worse. This study, held at Washington University (St. Louis), will involve lots and lots of diagnostic tests ranging from PET scans, MRIs, lumbar punctures and normal blood work to extensive and practically impossible cognitive tests. The idea in this one is data collection from as many as possible with a likelihood of eventually having the disease as early as possible…then comparing data sources for hundreds and hundreds and looking for correlations and causes. Its potential is amazing and it has already been active since the 2000s, so I am super excited to add my data to the rest. I will let you all know how that turns out after the first visit later this month.
As I have said before, I am a fixer…and not being able to fix this for mom is breaking my heart. Help however you can and pray…the best help of all. 🙂
Thank you all
