Where To, Bud?

Did that word give you a bit of trouble? It's the word statistics re-invented by me. I do that a lot. Make up words, I mean. I think it's also a sign of my dementia, that I do..... One day at work I couldn't think of the word disposable , so I came up with my own word: throw-a-way-able . I wonder how many other Alzheimer's "sufferers" do this? Here's a sufferer: That guy's really "suffering", isn't he? You can tell, right? But with Alzheimer's, it isn't so easy to tell, Kiddos! Why? Because we look and (sometimes) act "normal". If you were to see me at the grocery store you'd say to yourself, "That guy sure is ugly. but he looks normal!" Okay, okay. I didn't mean to give you remedial Alzheimer's Education, just needed to make that point, thank you> What I mean by "Statistifications" is that I just wanted y'all to know that this site averages 57 hits a day and we've raised cl...

....... and it was like music to my ears, since I have found it very difficult to smile with any amount of sincerety lately. It was my friend Beth from Ohio who calls me on a regular basis to make sure I'm okay, and here's what made her laugh: (wasn't funny to me at the time, but I used to love making people laugh, so it was kinda like deja vu for me). Okay, went to the bank this morning to make a deposit and decided to stop at the convenience store to pick up some diet drinks. I had to park the car around the side of the store at a sort of incline and since my car has a manual transmission I put it in neutral, got out and started for the store, when an elderly gentleman said "Car's rollin'". I looked, and sure enough, I had forgotten to pull up the emergency brake and it was rolling straight for another car! Okay, now y'all have to picture this: I have some Earth Shoe openbacked sandals that I like to wear when the weather's warm, but they're...

As y'all know, until recently, I've been a volunteer animal welfare advocate for my local shelter. We badly need a new shelter here in Paulding County and you can help in 2 ways : 1. Go the site below and vote. You can vote once per day and the more votes the higher the chances of winning . Please also link your friends and ask them to help me help the critters. http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/shelterchallenge.faces Or click the paw icon at the bottom of this entry! When you go to the site, you'll be asked to click once to provide food (no need to register) and when you finish that you'll be able to vote for our shelter. If you have more than one computer you can also use the other one as well - so that means 2 votes per day. The shelter you are supporting is Paulding Humane Society, inc. located in Dallas, GA 30132. (You'll need to do a search on the page) Also, if you're a certain schoolteacher friend of mine from Australia and you're readi...

Those of you who are readers of science fiction, will know him as the author of the Discworld series. I would like you to watch this 2 part speech, and try to keep in mind that this man has Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease. Please pay particular attention to his symptoms, and how frustrating it is for him to be able to buy crack (if he wanted to), but yet The National Health will not provide the Aricept that he and other British subjects need in order to function. Sound familiar? What's it going to take? My "idea" of us colonizing and being self-sufficient was meant as satire, but if our government continues to spend our money on wars rather than its own citizens' health, what's left? Terry Pratchett doesn't want to die. Bill Craig, who is nowhere near as famous as Sir Terry doesn't want to die. None of us want to die, but no one seems to be listening. No one wants to believe.

It is with great regret that I say goodbye to a friend I have never met. His name was Skip and on the Straight Dope he was known as "BarnOwl" Skip passed away last Friday from lung cancer and emphysema, but before he left he made sure I'd be "okay", because I had mentioned on the Dope that I'd like to get back into painting, but wasn't sure how much I could do "free-hand" since I now have developed a Parkinsonian tremor. Skip recommended a book and a device known as a Camera Lucida which is nothing but a set of mirrors placed in such a way that they will reflect a particular image on a canvas or paper and one can then proceed to sketch the outlines and then paint in the rest. http://www.camera-obscura-lucida-shop.com/new-hardwood-camera-lucida.html Would it surprise you to know that many of the greatest painters used this technique? Do you think of that as "cheating"? Skip (BarnOwl) is one of many people I have met on the internet, b...

I was the 1962 Spelling Champion of Carroll County. The word I won with was CARBURETOR . The guy I beat was Tony. Tony spelled it with an A where the last E is. You know? That word should be spelled with an A " CARBURATOR " There: Much better! Where am I going with this, you must be asking yourselves, right? Well, one reason I was such a good speller as a kid was because I learned to speak English by using a German-English dictionary, so I had to really look at the word and see the order of the letters, how the word is pronounced and what it means. I'd say I spent about half a minute with each word. "Get to the POINT , Bill!" Okay, Okay! The blackboard's gone. The one in my brain. The one which has the word conveniently written on it, so in spelling a word, all I have to do is "look" at the letters and read them off one by one. I don't know exactly when the blackboard was taken away, but it's gone, and now all that's up there ...

That's probably on the mind of every man and woman who's been diagnosed with this awful disease: that gradually, the knowing of her or him will disappear. It's been on my mind ever since last October, when I decided I needed to find out why I couldn't remember stuff and why my mind wandered so much. It's a frightening feeling, and it's one among many things I will be discussing with my shrink when I see him in May. "A shrink ??? But you're not ......." What? I'm not CRAZY ? I'm demented . Alzheimer's is a form of dementia. Remember back in Where to Bud? 101 when I first started this blog? We went over that already - where were you that day and why am I writing to myself???? Anyway look up dementia in the dictionary and find its synonyms. The word "crazy" is in there, trust me. I don't know anyone who's been diagnosed with Alzheimer's who isn't also seeing a psychiatrist. We have to, because we're also ...

Someone once told me that, and it kinda hurt, because being a musician, a sometimes-poet and story-teller I do tend to live with my "head in the clouds" and I like it up there! During my short sky-diving phase I used to just marvel at how very quiet and peaceful it is during that short ride down, and, like an eagle, I wished I could have found a jet stream and stayed up there a while longer, just riding the wave. That's what today's entry is all about: The Coming Down. I came down last night. Hard. But I landed, and you know what they say, right? "Any landing you can walk away from, is a good one"? I had some help. Alz.org has a 24-7 Help Line and I had to use it last night, because everything that's been going on with me lately just came rushing over me all at once, and I needed to grab onto someone. So I did. I told y'all it was gonna be the good and the bad (and the ugly) on this blog, right? Isn't that in the disclaimer? :) So anyway, I...

Remember me telling you we have some very talented folks over on alz.org? For the past few days, me and some of the guys and ladies have been "batting" around a proposal of mine that we (Alzheimer's patients) buy up some land, build on it, incorporate ourselves so as to pay no tax, and then secede. Well, today we received a proposal from Mr. D. Diablo Doubletongue, Esq. of the firm, of FEEBLE FUTILE & FAIL LLC, ATTORNEYS which we are to take as satire. Some very good satire. It takes a while to read, but as you do, remember that Mike Donohue (a former attorney) is an Alzheimer's patient. He's an Early Onset Alzheimer's Patient trying to get and stay well! Thank you Mike! Very well written! ==================================================================================== In RE: Referral of FEEBLE FUTILE & FAIL LLC, ATTORNEYS TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: I have been asked to submit the following proposal of a colleague of mine in the practice of law who...

Just occurred to me we never finished the 3-part series of videos with the lithpy doctor who has slouch posture, so here's the last of the three. Among the meds he mentioned, I am on Exelon and Namenda for the dementia and on Cymbalta and Welbutrin for the depression. Unfortunately, weed (proven very beneficial for AD) is illegal, or I'd be one happy grandpappy! Tomorrow (Thursday) is my neuro-psych test, and it's an all-day event, so keep me in your thoughts, please. Maybe when I'm done tomorrow evening, I'll be ready to join these guys. See ya Bill

Just some knick-knacks today, y'all. Here goes: 1. I know that not everyone who reads my blog goes over to alz.org and clicks on the message boards, but there's some very intelligent folks over there and in addition to that our sense of humor is intact. We were discussing politics and the fact that AD is getting short-changed in the financial assistance for research department, so I added the following "tongue in cheek" comment: "All right then, HERE'S what we'll do: 1. Incorporate ourselves as a church or some other non-tax paying entity 2. Buy up some land. (Hell, I'd contribute to THAT!) 3. Colonize (we'd have our own doctors and nurses and get our meds sent from Canada - why should WE subsidize GM and the big banks? They don't wanna help US!) 4. Secede. Alan, you can be in charge. I'll be your propaganda minister (I'm half German, remember?), Tom will be our Secretary of the Interior...... Who's with me on this? I'm only ...

Hi Mr. Speaker, you may not remember me but I was in one of your classes at what was then known as West Georgia College. Next I knew you as a political candidate and had you in my radio studio many times for interviews. I was always impressed with your intelligence and very positive outlook for our Country and have followed your career ever since the 70's. I am writing you because I am now being treated for Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease and have volunteered to be an EOAD Advocate with my local AD chapter in Atlanta. I first became aware last October that I was having memory issues, took a look at the 10 symptoms and was in every one of them. I am right now "jumping through all the hoops" in order to get my SSDI and from what I gather in speaking with fellow patients (and from reading your newsletter) I have a lot of jumping yet to do. All of us on alz.org are unified in our efforts to get treatment and have some kind of dignified life left, but the common thread we ...

As in " radical ", I mean? In a previous entry I mentioned that someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer's every 72 seconds. 'Member? If that's the case, why in the friggende farg are we still having to fight to be able to get care? I have friends who have EOAD who have had to hire lawyers just to get their disability! Why is that? I think it's because doctors aren't taking this disease as seriously as they should. They look at people like me and my friends Tom and Alan, see that we can still hang a few words together and make sense, and conclude that we don't meet their criteria for Alzheimer's. Here again is the page with the symptoms: http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_know_the_10_signs.asp I'm going to add one that I haven't recognized in myself till just recently: I am seeing people who aren't really "there". So what I am proposing is an online, television whatever interview with a private doc, a shrink (sorry, shrinks!)...

Seeing as I now have the "CRS" version of Alzheimer's (Can't Remember Shit), I told my friend Tommy (a fellow EOAD patient) this morning that little joke and made him laugh! It was great hearing my friend's laughter, since neither he nor I have had much to laugh about recently. Tom invited me to come to Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) this Easter weekend, but the trains are all booked and I just got my car out of the shop, so Tom & Gerri (cute names, aren't they?) may I please have a raincheck? We are expecting tornadoes here and the wind is already kicking up, so this will be a short entry. Love to all and Happy Easter! Bill

Although I cannot help in the physical way I once did (www.d2d4wetnoses.com), this is a cause which is still very near and dear to my heart, so please - if you can - click on that ad box and/or send a donation via www.pauldinghumane.org. It would mean a lot to me, personally, and you may be helping some little puppy or kitty to live and be adopted. Please remember: "Spay, Neuter and Adopt"! My love to all of you! Bill

Today I watched a History Channel program on Andre The Giant , a very famous wrestler who began his professional life at age 22 at 7 feet tall and 350 pounds. A doctor examined him once and gave him the name of the disease he had. I can't recall the scientific name, but the generic name is "Gigantism". What that means is, Andre would continue to grow (because of a growth-hormone gone awry), but at some time his bone structure would not be able to support his body, and he would die. And he did. At age 44. Of congestive heart failure. His system just built up too much fluid, he could not get rid of it, it backed up into the lungs, put a strain on the heart, and there you go. He knew at age 22 that he had already lived half of his life, but he didn't care, and this is why I am writing about Andre: He decided to live every day of his short life as if it were his last. When I was younger, I collected things: music, guitars, books.. but now that I am facing my own "d...

Monday I had a consultation with my new doctor, a psycho-neurologist, Dr. Sathian, MD, PhD, and he put me through some mental exercises like drawing the face of a clock, those interlocking pentagons which I can never reproduce (guess I must be a "left-brain" kinda guy) and several other things. I will be honest with you and tell you that among the questions I got wrong were: the date and month (I thought it was still March), the season and the floor I was on. I can't walk heel to toe very well without losing my balance, and I couldn't remember one of my meds. But I can walk and quack like a duck (neither of which he wanted me to do - if he had, I could have done such a great duck, I think he would have had me admitted and I would not be writing this right now.) I do a great duck! So what's next? The neuro-psych testing. On April 16th. It would have been great if we could have done it ALL yesterday, but I think he wanted to meet me first and see how much of a wha...

I never knew that in my whole life! I always thought they were some kinda muddy gray, but they are a piercing BLUE! Wow! Who knew??? I have blue eyes. Never knew that. Never knew. Thank you for following this blog. I wish I could thank you and hug you personally! Bill

I knew him as "Professor" Newt Gingrich, back in the day. Back in the day when he taught me Poli Sci at was then known as West Georgia College. I had him in my radio studio when he ran for office, and later I supported him in his run for Congress, and you know the rest, right? Here he is in support of Alzheimer's. Read and discuss. Please. http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=31290&keywords=alzheimer You may need to copy and paste, sorry. I have forgotten how to create a hyperlink. Thanks to my "BRO" (Skip) for forwarding this to me! Love you, little brother! Okay, I alluded to it in the last entry, so here it is. Enjoy! MORE COWBELL! ;) Thanks Bill

Just tryin' to make some sense of it all.... What's left? Somebody take the saddle off and slap me on the butt..... Thanks Bill

That means if I commit to someone or some thing , I like to see it through all the way , no matter what. Sometimes I just really "don't feel like it", but even though it isn't like I gave my word, it's the same as to me. I just walked in from my first-ever Alzheimer's Association meeting in Atlanta, and I told Suzette, my counselor that I would write tonight and tell her what I thought - was I glad I went? I couldn't answer honestly then , because I'm just not a person who socializes much, and as I told Suzette, this was one of those times. I really had to make myself go, but I made a "commitment" and I needed to see it through. So Suzette and Danelle (my other counselor?: Yes, I am glad I went, and I also enjoyed meeting Scott, a new EOAD friend. He and I shared experiences including our frustrations that because neither he nor I look our age, and we can still reason and converse normally, people find it hard to believe we have Alzheim...