alzheimers news-he is missed

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-HE IS MISSED

the last time i saw him i cried as i left that day knowing that i would not see him again
we got the call a few weeks later that he had passed
we were vacationing in san francisco so we flew back home to austin then drove to his funeral in southern arkansas

just a few years earlier when he and i were moving my mother who had alzheimers out of her apartment into a long term facility i noticed he was having problems
signs he might have early alzheimers

one of the first things to go in alzheimers is spatial abilities
i noticed that he had trouble moving the chairs through the doorway so they would go through
a few years later 
i thought about his trouble getting those chairs through the door when i was doing the spatial portion of the neuropsychological exam trying to qualify to be in the normal control group of the adni alzheimers research study 

like him i wasnt doing too well on my spatial quiz
interesting though over the years my spatial testing seemed to improve
why i dont know

then he got lost driving the few blocks over to the long term care facility 
we had lived a block away from that facility for several years as kids
i could drive there with my eyes closed
his getting lost concerned me

i suggested his wife have him evaluated
he eventually was diagnosed with alzheimers disease in his early to mid 50s
he died a few years later at the age of 62

yesterday he would have been 70 years old

it doesnt seem fair that i am still alive and he is not

his course like most patients with alzheimers was a bumpy one
a lot of tears were shed by his family 

he died in a hospice setting with his family around him
peacefully
as peacefully as one can who has alzheimers


here is a picture of him as a deputy sheriff
his first career was as a fireman until he retired in his 40s
he later retired as a deputy sheriff
there he had a drug dog that traveled with him 
they won several awards over the years
one he was proud of was locating a missing child 

he
was friendly 
was compassionate 
and
always had a smile

another job he had was to maintain the small local water system
so
after he was diagnosed and gave his jobs up he and my sister in law came to visit us at the country n
while there he and i drove to a nearby town and picked up a 1500 gallon rainwater tank which we later donated to my wife shes school

he was always concerned about my rainwater system and us drinking the water
he never felt comfortable the way i was filtering my water

we and his extended family members and his friends miss him
i think of him almost every day 
more so around his birthday

after his death i told his wife i wanted some tool of his he used a lot so that i could use it and think
about him when i did

he used to carry a small blue wrench in his back pocket that he used to turn off the water meters
i have that wrench in my garden box
here is a blog i wrote about it called the wrench
i am always using it in the garden since we have tons of water lines 
and
every time i use it 
i pause
think of his smile and laugh
tear up 
then
move on 

here is a blog i wrote to ms b about him in 2015 titled
dear ms b-youdve liked him

we wish he was still with us

the organicgreen doctor