Posted 5-5-20
Happy Tuesday, all! Happy Cinco de Mayo too! It is also Giving Tuesday, a day set aside for people to give to organizations that they appreciate. I very seldom ask for money for our agency (and I would never ask for it for me), but if you feel compelled to give, here is our link: Link. If you choose to give, I solute you and give you a virtual high five! (Oh Snap! We can’t do that, can we? Hoping virtual high fives don’t cause a virtual virus.)
Did I mention (amid the sound of dead horse getting whacked some more, faintly in the distance) that I love numbers?!?! Indeed I do. I resisted the temptation to note that yesterday’s date was a math problem 5×4=20, but I cannot stand it any more…
5-5-20… Five. If only five would have had 5 letters, it would be a perfect number. It is a handful. 20 is divisible by 5. Fives, for some reason, are my favorites in Yahtzee. (No wonder I lose so often.) I had 5 in my family growing up. My family now: 5 (plus a son-in-law who does count, but isn’t one of the “starting 5”, 2 cats and a fish.) My favorite fruit, my partial namesake, is the five-lettered apple. My bride’s name has 5 letters. (I failed to mention yesterday that my name, in a way, is all 5s and 4s: Mark+Allen Apple+gate…a cheater’s palindrome.) Albert Pujols, one of my favorite baseball players wore the number 5. Quite a number!
So how can my little number…today’s number of the day…teach us about dementia? Here are five things:
5 Things You Can Learn About Dementia From the Number Five (Sort of):
- Nickels. Funny, if slightly off-colored, story which makes me remember my mom’s tremendous sense of humor: We were garage salers growing up. We were probably consider lower- to mid- middle class, but my folks treated money like I try to…save on things that matter less so you have more for things that matter more. Anyway…one steaming summer day, we were having a garage sale. We were absolutely cooking like lobsters that July day. There was shade to be had in our yard, but not near the ideal garage sale area. So we sat there sweating and swatting (flies) when a very, very large lady approached our little card table checkout area. This lady had no business wearing a battle-tested tube top, but she was…and it was rough. I will leave out some details, but the lady was paying in lots of coins for a several dollar bill. She said “I hope you don’t mind this in small change!”…and mom, looking up at the same time, said “Just keep flipping the nipples…uhhh…I mean nickels”. Immediately both mom and the poor lady turned crimson red. There was no laughing…just cricket-snoozing silence. When the lady left, mom exploded in belly laughter, and I did too. Mom wasn’t a frequent applier of a crude sense of humor, but this one got us both… Dementia has stolen much..but there are still glimmers of mom’s amazing and well-timed sense of humor even in the late stages.
- Five “Kinds” of dementia: There are dozens of types and subtypes of dementia of dementia. However, it seems useful to consolidate these types into five primary groups: Alzheimer’s (by far the most common type of dementia), Lewy Body Dementia, Vascular Dementia, Frontotemporal Dementia, and what can be called Mixed Dementia. Mixed dementia is when one type of dementia isn’t bad enough, getting to have another type too. 🙁 The most common mixed dementia is Alzheimer’s disease mixed up with vascular dementia. I suspect my mom has mixed dementia with these two types.
- Five senses. Our senses are a huge part of our humanity, and one that dementia attacks… and attacks hard. Sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch are all hindered in unique ways. Sight is harmed in many ways, but field of vision is a big one. It isn’t that a patient CAN’T see the periphery, but processing what they see will typically focus on what is right in front of their face. As I have mentioned before in previous pieces, be careful to make eye contact with your loved one to engage them. You can actually sneak up on them from the front if you aren’t careful. Hearing may be hindered in comprehension too. Speaking deliberately and slower than normal may help your loved one keep up. Volume may also be important and operating hearing aids can become a problem. Taste is all over the map. Sugary sweet things are still popular as is coffee. Beyond that, some may also have trouble remembering to eat, what they like to eat and, sadly, what they should eat. In the realm of smelling, there is a chicken/egg phenomena. Many struggle with a loss of smell (or processing smells), but some say a loss of smell is a sign that dementia is coming soon. Suffice it to say that issues with smell are a bad sign for a senior, in general, and in a patient with dementia especially so. Lastly, touch is also disrupted in a host of ways. Processing touch, as with the other senses, is a huge problem. However, another challenge is the lack of loving touch. Some may be agitated at touch, leading caregivers to be afraid to touch their loved one. Don’t give up. Therapeutic touch is an important human need. Be deliberate and gentle, but don’t stop trying to express love this way.
- 5K? Have you ever ran a 5K? How about participated in a trivia night fundraiser? Are you a walker? How about joining my Walk to End Alzheimer’s team? I bring these up because, in order to make this dementia problem “better”, to find treatments, and to ultimately find a cure, the Association will need money. June 20th is the second biggest fundraiser of the year for the Alzheimer’s Association. Dubbed “The Longest Day“, this is a very flexible opportunity to help. Get with Alz.org and they will assist in setting up a fundraiser to work toward a world without Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
- 5 million. There are 5 million Americans living with dementia today. That is approximately equal to the populations of Houston and Chicago combined! By 2050, there will be over 14 million! That would be like adding the population of New York City and Las Vegas to the other two cities! Something has to be done. It starts with me and with you. 🙂
#EndALZ
Update: Mom is the same. We are trying desperately to figure out something to buy for mom for Mother’s Day. We may get her a plant. Problem is, we won’t be there to water it. 🙁
Diet update: I lost another 1.6 pounds. I am nearing 60 now.
Bonus note: One of my very, very favorite songs is “Take Five”, by Dave Brubeck. It was written in 5/4 time! Here it is for your listening pleasure:
Time to take 5 for the day from writing…