My new home is a condo for people aged 55 or older. The building is a stucco shoebox painted an indeterminate orangey-pink with green trim, accented by long balconies and faux, multi-paned windows. It is sturdy, well maintained and very quiet. So what is my problem? If I am honest, it’s that it just isn’t very cool. I loved our former house; it was old and funky and, to my mind, gracious. And I thought it was very cool.
Read MoreOne day, in the liquor store, I found myself juggling more bottles of wine than I could manage. A nice, youngish man came to my rescue. He swooped in and grabbed the bottle that threatened to wobble its way out of my left hand. However, the Parkie brain is a funny thing and often there is a disconnect between the intention and the message that miscreant neurons send to the rest of the body. It’s called dystonia and it is not cool.
Read MoreMy husband has Lewy Body dementia. Probably. No one knows for sure but we are losing him, our daughters and I, we are losing him to a disease that erodes his reason, silences his voice, and plays havoc with his physical abilities.
There are not conclusive tests, except post-mortem, for the diseases that steal cognition. So we think that my father died of Alzheimer’s and we think my father-in-law did so, too.… good, smart, hardworking men whom we loved very much.
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