I have enjoyed listening to Laura Branigan's song memories.

 

Trying to recover from two difficult emotional mornings.

 As I have written before my Alzheimers problem is more 

emotional than cognitive.  Anxiety link.

Yesterday after a nice drive back from a great trip with family to 

Avon, Colorado, my wife and I were having a quiet first day home.  

She asked me to look up on Amazon to buy special masks for COVID as we are flying to Florida soon.  

I found it but there was a bewilding abundance of choices that I asked her to decide which mask.  

She did and than asked me how to order it on Amazon.  

I ordered it for our Florida address.  

She was looking over my shoulder and among the list of potential addresses she saw a woman named Julie.  She thought it was a woman from a long time ago.  I said I didn't think so but could not be sure who it was on the spur of the moment.  I can't think that fast anymore.  She asked me to erase it.  Again I said it would not be that easy for.  She got extremely angry with.  It was so very distrising for me. 

The next moring my mood was still not great when a friend asked to get involved in a Twitter controversy.  He could not leave me a clear thread trail of his position.

I finally had to call him to get it staight. 

It exhausted me and made me very distressed again. 

After a Manhattan coctail, wine and watching Lost in Space, I finally gained my equanimity. 

4 year series of first person narrative of my time with Alzheimers- UNIQUE AND HOPEFUL

 

MY FOUR BOOKS ON MY PERSONAL JOURNEY WITH ALZHEIMERS.

UNIQUE: WRITTEN IN THE FIRST PERSON 

HOPEFULL: I HAVE DONE BETTER THAN EXPECTED.  I HAVE ENTERED MY 5TH YEAR

A

Last day at Avon I did make it on the lift.

 Temperature is 38 degrees F. 

Thus at the last minute I did make it on the lift 

Nice fire pit nearby.   Very warming.

Covid is still a problem.  Last 3 days, one million cases each day. 

Nice view without the mask.  I love my parka.

Tomorrow we drive back to Topeka. 

I am really looking for to getting back home and to my dog. It's a dog's life link

I do miss not skiing. 

Winter vacation in Avon, Colorado in my 5th year of Alzheimers

I have had a great time this last week visiting my two sons with their wives and one grandson. 

My wife and I had a difficult time driving here in the snow: 

Stressful drive up the mountain link.

We arrived late at night and just before the main highway was closed.

However the next morning there was beautiful sunshine:

The Blizzard by Judy Collins link

Now we are planning to drive home tomorrow.  We will probably not come back unless someone else drives us.

The week was wonderful we have only had flurries of snow. 

My kids tried to ski everyday.  They loved it. 

My wife would babysit the baby while they went out. 

I love my grandson but the last two mornings I stayed by myself for the quiet and calmness as I was the news and write my twitters and blogs. 

Looking forward to going home to my Smart TV and the recordings of Morning Joe, as well as the DVD player. 

I have filled some of the down time re-reading Bernard Cornwall series on the Penisula War of Britain vs. Napolean in the Richard Sharpe series. 

I am reading Sharpe's Gold for the third time.

I first read it 10 years ago.

I take my time and underline more.  

It has been a great joy to rediscover these books.

We save money by not eating out. 

Ginger and I brought a great deal of groceries from Topeka. 

She cooked six thick pieces of Salmon two nights ago. 

My son Andrew made a great plate of Shrimp Curry.

Of course there was wine and red wine. 

I also make my usual anchor Manhattan each day.

However it has been very cold outside.  I get cold so easily.

I did walk over to the liquour store a few blocks away, yet 

the sidewalk was still covered with some snow and ice. 

Thanks goodness I had my snowboots on.  

My kids have used the outdoor hot tub everyday.  

I forgot my swimming trunks but I am not sure I would want to go out into the cold.

There is a lift to Beaver Village that is free and I would have liked to visit again.  Again even though the temperature is up to 36 degrees F.  I decided not to go. 

So here I am by myself listening to MSNBC talk only about the Jan 6 insurrection that happened 1 year ago while so far I haven't seen Fox news talk about it at all. 

I am content.  We had a free breakfast that was included with our points. I am warm and am grateful I can still write these blogs which will make up the YEAR 5 book that I will title Trying to Avoid Falling off Cliffs. Subtitle Doing Better than Expected

The main goal for me is to maintain to maintain my routine .

1- Medications: Ten different types in AM

2- Supplements: Twelve different types after lunch.  

I have not been checking my fasting glucose, ketones or weight. 

3- Exercise: I am able to walk 4,000 to 8,000 steps by pacing in my room each day.

I am so proud my book on my 4th year of Alzheimers is published this week.

 

Link to buy my book on Amazon

My big accomplishment today was making a 30 second video to promote my book on Amazon.

Even now I don't know how to add the video to my blog. 

It should show up on Amazon in 2 days. 

You can read my Year Five book as I write it on this blog.

Title:

Trying not to fail off any cliffs

Almost off a cliff on drive to Avon in snow storm. link

Link to beginning of Year 5 book

I'm living with Dementia but I'm still me 5 years since DX of Alzheimers

 

Memory loss from aging vs Alzheimers

 My diagnosis of Alzheimers was made in Dec 2017 after cognitive exams and a Amyloid Pet scan. 

Presently people are surprised I have AZ.  

They say they have similar memory lapses. 

I am surprised in my fifth year since the Dx was made

 that I am doing better than expected with my AZ.

However my recent memory continues to get worse.  

Just ask my wife.  

We don't get to frustrated with it.

 Memory is not all it is cracked out to be link

What frustrates me is that my friends who downplay their memory loss to aging don't get checked for early AZ when they can adapt several steps to prevent worsening of their AZ. 

War what is it good for? A optimistic view of the future

 Attached is Tolstoy’s view of history (from the novel War and Peace}; a very bleak outlook.  And yet it’s hard to find cogent arguments against it.  Is all of history just fate?  Are we all just pawns??  It would seem that humanity just keeps repeating itself.  This would also include epidemics which come every so often to kill unknown millions of people around the world.  Maybe Ecclesiastes has it right, “Vanity of vanities, says the teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.  What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun?” (Eccl 1:2-3).  Sorry; this is not an uplifting outlook for a new year.

 

Tolstoys excerpt from his novel War and Peace is thought provoking and full of information.

I have been re-reading  Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe series on the Napoleon wars in Europe.

From the British point of view it was simple: It was Napoleon's fault. 

Sadly Hitler did not learn from History. He repeated the mistake of invading Russia. 

Communists said it was a class (economic) struggle.

Right now it is more clear than ever that billionaires have too much political power.  

I suggest we read The Lessons of History by the Durants link $1

As I recall their message was more hopeful. 

HIstory is biased in that it looks mostly at big events that occasionally happen which are not as important as the day to day living 

that occupies most of the time of the human species. 

Also the Durants point out that wealth over history has often been redistributed. 

My own optimism comes from the hope that women will control more of the government. 

My pessimism comes from lack of effort to prevent climate change till it is too late. 

Many people don't like the movie Look Up but it shows how politicians foolishly respond to crises.

The movie is quite a satire..  

The song Imagine by John Lennon

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us, only sky

Imagine all the people
Livin' for today
Ah

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too

Imagine all the people
Livin' life in peace
You

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Photos of happy outcome of drive to Avon, Colorado

#1
 Showing my grandson the snow.

#2

View from our room 

#3

Sunny day after the storm

#4

Reminds me of the Judy Collins song.

The Blizzard link

Challenging Drive from Topeka to Avon, Colorado

 Driving with Alzheimers and trying to not drive off a cliff.

Last year when we drove from Florida home to Topeka we decided we would no longer make that long drive anymore.  My wife did all the driving and it was too stressful for her.  I did not driving. 

We decided to take a drive that was half the distance (of the Florida drive) from Topeka to Avon.

We also decided to keep the two legs short by staying at a hotel in Hayes. 

First leg went well. 

Second leg was very stressful as we hit snow in the  mountains.  We we stuck in slow traffic for hours. Our cars was skidding a little.  

Very hard on my wife.  She swore we would never make this drive again.  She is 73 year old and not a confident driver in this type of weather.  I am 70 years old and can still drive but we decided I shouldn't with this bad weather. 

We made the decision to go to our time share at Westin as my 2 sons with their wives would be there with one of my grandsons.  

I wanted to see snow again as I no longer ski. 

The snow was beautiful on the mountains. 

Next day the sun came out and my son with his wife had a great time on the powder. 

I think we will stick with cruises now despite Omicron.