This message is also posted at, A Republic, if you can keep it.
I just read a pretty good example of why I'd like to see our elected officials pass H.R. 3286 and S.1492, the Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act of 2009. "UCLA researchers determine toxicity levels of Alzheimer's clusters in brain". The researchers mentioned are working on finding the cause of Alzheimer's. Someone develops Alzheimer's every seventy seconds, finding the cause could reduce the number of folks that are at risk of developing Alzheimer's in the future. The funding that H.R. 3286 and S.1492 will provide will help keep this much needed research going. Expensive? Yes, but I feel it will be less expensive than providing care for the millions of folks that now have Alzheimer's and the countless number that will develop Alzheimer's in the future if this research comes to an end due to a lack of funding.
Please contact your elected officials and urge them to support H.R. 3286 and S.1492.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic.
Thanks go to:
UCLA Newsroom
Partial Eclipse of the Brain
2 weeks ago
My mother-in-law began showing signs of Alzheimer's around age 75. That was 15 years ago.
ReplyDeleteHere AD proceeded slowly at first, but has sped up dramatically since 2005. Now, she mostly sleeps; the sundowning and the wandering has stopped; we don't know why exactly, whether she doesn't feel like doing those things or if she has forgotten how to do those things. She has forgotten so much!
Her caregiver is her boyfriend of some 25 years. She did have a daycare to go to, but because of the budget crisis in California, that service has been discontinued.
Interesting thing about my mother-in-law's Alzheimer's course: she never liked me before AD set in.
My Mother's older sister had Alzheimer's. She was happy though, and she lived with a in-house caregiver, about 4 blocks from my parents. So they would have her over for lunch or dinner, to let Bev get a break.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to see someone literally disintegrate before your eyes, my heart goes out to you both, and to your family!
tmw
David, you're in my prayers....
ReplyDeleteWhat a tough situation, and yes, it seems like research in this area is a great idea on all levels. Thanks for your work. xx
I want to thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.Alzheimer's seems to run in Sues family. There is reason to believe her Great-Grandmother had it. Sue and I were her Grandmothers in-home-caregivers until Grandma had to go to an Alzheimer's care facility. Grandma's younger sister was also an AD victim. Now Sue and her Mother both have AD. As you see there seems to be a pattern. Seems that only female members of her family develop AD. That concerns us because we have a Daughter, a Granddaughter and two Great-Granddaughters.
ReplyDeleteSue does take medicine to slow the Alzheimer's progress. She has her good days and her bad. She still reads about AD. She was happy to hear you stopped by. On the lighter side. She still has her (Sometimes sick) sense of humor. I feel that helps both of us.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic.
Humor helps us over the many humps in life! Good for Sue!
ReplyDeleteAnd praise be to G*D that there is something that can slow it down...my aunt didn't have that option.
I'll pray too, you and Sue have a tough row to hoe.
tmw
TMW,
ReplyDeletePrayer has helped us through health problems in the past and I'm sure God will be with us during this one too. Sues fist Alzheimer's prescription made he sick so they put her on Exelon (Pills, not the patch) and Namenda. They plan on changing that or adding to it in the future.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic.