Where To, Bud?

 Yesterday's discussion dealt with the human  aspect of the new Infrastructure Bill. Today I want to add an "e" to the word "human" and take a look at what our Caregivers need from that angle. Currently, there are an estimated 53 million Americans serving as caregivers to their elderly family members who require care for their disabilities. They are not recompensed for that expense which comes at an emotional cost as well as the financial one. Figures released by the AARP indicate that on average, family caregivers spend about 24 hours a week along with $7.000.00 in out-of-pocket expenses. Paid Long-term Care is a dream for those family members, so they'll foot the bills on their own.

........... about neurodegenerative disease.  The one I want to focus on in this entry is what is known as "Sandwich Care". That is, caring for an adult with Alzheimer's while also taking care of a child or children at home.  These caregivers constitute nearly 1 in 4 and nearly 60% of those folks rate their stress level as "very high" with 40% reporting symptoms of depression. Lest you think I'm referring to adult children taking care of their elderly parents with Alzheimer's, don't. Don't think that, because I want you to go back a little further in age. I want you to think of teenagers  taking care of their elderly parents. You remember teens, right? Those humans who, from the ages of 13 to 18 are supposed to be going to school and participating in extra-curricular activities such as sports and dating. Just being kids, in other words. Going to dances, proms, games. In short,  having fun ? Instead, we have children taking care of their sick par...

 But don't worry - it's supposed to be there, just like a certain amount is supposed to be in the rest of your body, where it makes cell membranes and manufactures hormones. What's on/in your brain though, (about 25%) works on creating myelin sheaths which protect your nerve cells, serving as insulation and acting as neurotransmitters. If those sheaths get damaged you might get neurological diseases such as our old friend, "Dr. Alzheimer" or "Dr. Parkinson". Protein is the culprit here (how'd you guess?) just as it is with Alzheimer's. TDP- 43 is the protein that's damaging the sheaths and if you don't have them (the sheaths) then your brain can't process the cholesterol properly and you get a neurodegenerative disease. In the words of the late Roseanne Rosannadanna, " It's always somethin' " So what's the answer? Well, controlling your cholesterol is a good thing, and letting the researchers isolate TDP-43 and t...

 It's probably not much different from yours, considering what's happening to and in our world, but since I have nothing else of any great importance going on that I can bitch about - humorously or otherwise - I will try to let you in on "A Day In My Life" 8:30 am - Awaken quietly - usually, my wife Dondra is still asleep. She and I are very light sleepers, so sleep eludes us much of the night - and take my meds. 9:00 am - Off to the bathroom to perform the morning rituals including hygiene. Luckily the hygiene portion is "ingrained" - otherwise, I would need a list on the mirror. 9:45 am - By now, Dondra is awake and I turn into the "Icewater/Ice-Coffee Getter" and I bring them to her bedside. It's part of OUR daily ritual, and I'd miss doing it if I didn't get to. If there are news or health issues to discuss, we do it then with me sitting at her bedside. This is also the time for the daily "neuro-check": One of us says ...

 500 Entries today! If you stayed with the journal since I began, thank you. If you'd like to continue reading my stuff here's a way: 1. To the far right of the title and at the bottom near the comments section,  you'll see a triangular little sign with a ball on each end 2. Click on that little sign 3. Choose "link" and copy/paste that link into your bookmarks 4. Or just send me an e-mail by clicking my name which is under the title highlighted in blue Until I can figure out how to get Blogger to accept a "subscribe" button that's the way we'll have to do it - sorry. Of course, you can also put the journal title on your desktop as a shortcut, but I will leave that to you. ========================================================= As you know, we lost a great guitarist and singer not too long ago - Glen Campbell. You probably have your own favorite song by Glen, so I won't post one here, but I did want to share with you a talk his wife Kim gav...