Posted 12-13-19
I hope and trust that you all survived the ravages of the full moon yesterday! 🙂 It was another super busy day in my little world, with projects up to my armpits and my expectations up to my nose, but it was nice nevertheless. Mom had a good day, as is the new, few month norm, although I see a chink in the armor ravaging the facility: flu and other illnesses. This will be bolstered by the forecast of snow and ice this weekend. Sigh… Praying that stays away from her so she can maintain this better streak.
Today’s little ditty came from something I saw on the internet that I found amazing and scary. Take a look at this short video from Inside Edition and we will resume:
Amazing? Horrifying? It was emotional to me, but I am an emotional dude.
Here are 10 things I gleaned about out topic from this short video:
- He isn’t “crazy”. First of all, we throw the word crazy around a lot these days and it needs to stop. Folks struggling with mental illness aren’t helped by calling them something mean. They, like mom and the Sweet 17, have feelings that can be hurt and we need to love, not hurt them! Next, our swimmer hasn’t lost his faculties, if you will. He is in great shape. Further reading suggests that he does this often. He is prepared. He may be somewhat extreme or even reckless, but he is not mentally ill. Similarly, dementia is not a true “mental illness”, as such. It is much more of a physical illness involving the systematic and disastrous destruction of brain matter. We need to stop with the stigmatizing of people different than us. In the vast majority of cases, this was neither group’s choice of a way to live life.
- He has a backup plan…and doesn’t use it. His rope is right there next to him and he doesn’t use it at all. He doesn’t need it, but it is always there in case he does. This reminds me of some folks who will not get checked when they see warning signs that they may be starting to contract the disease and won’t talk to their doctor. The rope is the doctor, if you will. You may not need him or her. There are dozens of conditions that act like/mimic dementia…I get it. However, if it is dementia, you need the rope! If you catch the disease early enough, you can get on meds that may extend the easier early stages and allow you time to prepare and to love your family actively. Please…if in doubt, check in with your doc!
- The dude must be in good shape. The water in this picture must be freezing cold. (<Ring Ring!> Captain Obvious called and wants his sentence back.) The swimmer peacefully and calmly navigated its waters without breaking a sweat, if you will. His conditioning helped him survive. Exercise is one of the preventative measures we can deploy (along with a heart/brain healthy diet) as we seek to avoid this monster visiting us uninvited. I need to work on it, but I supect some of you may as well. Let’s get on a healthier trajectory as we fight this brain bandit!
- He looked upward and ignored his surroundings. If you are a Christian, know that we could all do this a little better. Our surroundings may be uncertain, but if we spend more time looking and reaching upward than we do worrying in this terrible scenario we are in, our faith will be strengthened and our witness will probably “go viral” like this video.
- He was right there, but something was separating us. I found it amazing how thin the ice looked, but it would have had to be a foot (?) thick. I mean, it looked like he was swimming right there next to us, but there was a real, insurmountable barrier there. The old Mom looks like she sitting right there, holding my hand and watching Andy Griffith, but the disease is separating us. I can’t fix the problem, I just join in and experience her life and serve her however I can….and love her mightily like she is.
- There is a beginning and an end. I suspect that the first and the last parts of this man’s swim were the hardest: the initial shock of the cold water/news/diagnosis…and the end, when he was worn out and the cold of dementia had wreaked havoc. But, come to think of it, the middle wasn’t unicorns and rainbows either. 😉
- Things were OK. At the end of the journey, the swimmer flashed the universal sign OK for us, signifying that all way ok. This reminded me so much of this video of mom, which will always remind me that she is OK because of her future in heaven and she wanted us to know it.:
- It takes a team. The video had the swimmer, a cameraman, and a helper. There would have been more folks involved behind the scenes, editing the video, marketing the story, posting it on social media. It took a team to make this video and it takes a team to get our loved one from one end of the ice to the other. Don’t Lone Ranger it, reader. Get help. Get respite breaks so you stay strong and can remain the best caregiver you can be. Build a care team with help for your loved one and for yourself. If you need help gathering your care team or with anything at all, call these two organizations: the Alzheimer’s Association and your local Area Agency on Aging. I suspect this man wouldn’t have survived without his team…and we can expect no less.
- “The ice man cometh“. This phrase, used by the commentator, came from the title of a mid-1940’s Broadway play. Wikipedia educates us thusly: “The title (The Iceman Cometh) refers to a running gag between (main character) Hickey and the dead-enders about coming home after traveling his sales route to find his wife “rolling in the hay with the iceman” (akin to the contemporary joke about the “milkman“). In reality, he has murdered her. Confessing his crime, he must confront the consequences, including the prospect of execution. Therefore, the “iceman” seems a metaphor for the dissolution of the characters’ pipe dreams through death, perhaps the only way they can relinquish them due to their dependence upon them to sustain hope. — This play reminds me, sadly, of the countless plans mom and the Sweet 17 made…to travel the world, to go fishing every weekend, to see their grandkids grow up…only to be relegated to the sorrow and seeming hopelessness of this incurable disease. The iceman of death, if you will, cometh for all of us, but to these folks it comes way too quickly. Yet, we have hope.
- A robe awaits. Not unlike what was going through my mind when I ran the marathon several years ago, I expect if I was doing what this man did I would be fixated on getting my walrus-esque man bod out of the water and throwing on new clothing….and resting. Remember, believer, we have eternity and a new set of clothing promised to us when we emerge at the other side… in joy. Even more, we will be joint heirs with Christ, so the clothes will be royal. Until then, we grow and learn and love and serve and await for that sweet day.
#EndALZ #EndAlzheimers #Walk2EndAlz #AlzAssociation #GoPurple #Dementia
Note: I am giving mom her first round of cards tonight. 🙂 She has around 20! 🙂 Keep’em coming! 🙂 Thank you all!!!! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!