Early Warning System
The human condition has a built-in early warning alarm system. It’s called fight or flight.
We can often sense that danger is lurking, and our defences prepare themselves. It’s all very automatic.
But when it comes to personal disaster of the health kind, the system might suffer a power failure, and no alarm will go off.
Such is the case with Alzheimer’s. (So, too, apparently with other diseases. With cancer, for example. I have read of instances where the diagnosis came like a sudden thunder clap of surprise and shock. Even with pregnancy, but that is a whole different life.)
So when the disease finally rears its ugly head, we are, indeed, surprised, shocked, frightened. In the case of Alzheimer’s, this is common, even when we instinctively know that Alzheimer’s is at work in the background.
It lurks, doing its introductory damage in the shadows.
Early Warning System
There is no signal, the radar’s down,
Therefore there is no threat,
We detect no danger imminent,
Carry on, carry on.
Worry not, too busy now,
Just carry on, carry on.
There is no remote, it can’t be found,
The TV’s dead, there’s naught to do,
Oh look, it’s in the freezer.
Ha-ha! Silly we. We all forget, I’m bound.
So here there is no Early Warning sound.
There is no car, I’ve got the key, it’s lost.
Where can it have been driven to?
But wait, there is no self-drive cars just yet.
I know I parked it here, where has it gone?
But wait. We all confuse from time to time.
No worry. Ah! There it is.
This is no Early Warning sign.
What? No newspaper? You don’t want to read?
You must be tired. Of course. No worry.
What’s that? You don’t want the crossword puzzle?
How strange. Oh well, we’ll get your glasses checked.
That’s it, of course.
No Early Warning sign found here.
Carry on.
Be careful now you don’t cry wolf,
By seeing signs in everything.
Don’t you become obsessive ill,
You will be needed, later on.
And so the signs need weeded.
Shy off the crying wolf
And learn true signs of early warning.
Radar’s down, there is no signal,
Well, Peace has reigned so long;
We’ll have our Rangers on patrol
And they can sound the gong.
But What to Do?
First, recognize the potential signs of creeping Alzheimer’s. While you seek professional advice, you could try to:
Keep her reading; puzzling, sewing, painting…whatever she has always done. Help her with it. Encourage her when she gets discouraged;
Try learning new things. A recent research article opined (in my words) that an idle mind is setting a trap for the predatory Alzheimer’s. He will jump right in and replace the wiring in the brain.
Meanwhile, you can join with others to keep the mind stimulated. For example, you could join a dance group. My brother and his wife did when they retired; they became leaders in a very huge and vibrant social group, all of the members of which miss them as much as we do. This kept them alive beyond their expected time left.
Square dancing, their choice for keeping active and doing something together, means you have to remember the steps, recognize and follow the music. You practise using your friends’ names and numbers. You keep track of times and places. All very elementary; all very, very important; all involving mental muscles that need exercise to stay fit.
Remember that remembering names is one of the hardest things for people with Alzheimer’s, especially in the advancing stages of the disease.
Besides which, all such activities are fun. And if you can’t have fun, well, no fun makes Jack a dull boy…
So keep an eye out for any early warning signs.
And get onto all of your professionals, politicians, petitioners…whoever. Get those research dollars in and add pressure. Sweat them till they find a cure…
Thing is, in the case of the missing remote, for e.g., we missed a key signal. We missed it because, a) it was funny; b) she took it in good humour; c) we were simply unaware (ignorant of the sad possibilities of such an ordinary thing being a warning sign); and, it was years before any real signs showed up. Because she was still active, sill functioning on all cylinders.
Who knew?
So be aware.
Do what you can. And then some. Your Loved One is loved because she/he is precious.
And you protect your treasures.
Don’t forget.
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Credits: Dew Line caption–Wikipedia.
Brain illustration: Clip Art–The Commons 20under20…
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