my story revisited #198-today is her birthday

MY STORY REVISITED #198-TODAY IS HER BIRTHDAY

today she would have turned 102 years old
this is her when she was younger
she is my mother 
she died in her mid eighties from alzheimers disease
in the final stages

she was a teacher early on and a preachers wife and a mother
later in her early 40s she finished nursing school and was a nurse for over 20 years

sometime in her mid to late 70s symptoms started
once she fell and hit her head
a ct scan showed she had a small head bleed and it was noted she also had brain shrinkage that turned out to be due to alzheimers disease
it was about that time she got her diagnosis of alzheimers and was started on aricept or donepezil
she lived at home her choice for awhile 
then moved to an apartment in a senior facility
then she moved to a long term facility where she remained until her death 
she died in the late stages of the disease

seeing her go through this was my first real experience up close with someone with the disease
i had treated patients in my office but when they ended up in a facility i didnt care for them anymore

with her progression i got to see what it was really like
then later my brother a year younger than me went down that same path

her experience and my younger brothers experience made me hyperaware of this disease showing up in me
i had this fear of it sneaking up on me like it did them and not realizing it
leaving me unaware trying to practice medicine
fearing i would harm someone if i got it

so
when i turned 60 i sought out a clinical trial that would monitor me on a regular basis
so
that if symptoms would start then i would stop practicing
the memory testing showed i had memory issues
so
i stopped practicing medicine at the age of 60

luckily i eventually got on aduhelm which removed all the amyloid plaque from my brain
the question is 
will it make a difference
we will know over the next 5-10 years
hopefully i will be spared those final stages

i know what can happen as the disease progresses since i have seen it up close in her and him
i just hope something else get me before it does

i will always remember her last part of  her journey
hoping i dont go there
but
i also remember her even more before she reached that point
as a mom a grandmother as a nurse
she was loved my all
she was a special person and we miss her today

i wish my grandkids could have got to know her

she was a special person
happy birthday mom
she is in our thoughts today

the organicgreen doctor