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6231. arkymalarky - 7/21/2004 10:06:52 AM Very informative post, MsGreer! PLEASE stick around!
Thoughtful,
Sounds like my grandmother, which they diagnosed as mini-strokes. She could be very contentious and hard to handle, too. Her physical strength outlasted her mental by quite a few years.
Bro delivered a really good eulogy at her funeral at which he described an instance in the nursing home where he inadvertantly crossed her while trying to persuade her to stay there when he left. He doesn't live here, and he didn't realize when we tried to tell him how bad she was until that day. According to him, he "heard words a guy should never hear from his grandmother." 6232. wonkers2 - 7/21/2004 11:44:44 AM The implications Alzheimer's for health care due to growing numbers of people living into their 80s and 90s is staggering from a cost and social standpoint. Are we curing cancer, heart disease only to permit 5-10 years of Alzheimers? Medicine needs to develop along the lines of the "wonderful one-horse shay" where everything works great until the day when everything falls apart at once. 6233. wonkers2 - 7/21/2004 11:46:55 AM Better mechanisms are needed to allow people to control how long they live in old age. The Oregon law is a good start but doesn't go nearly far enough in my opinion. 6234. wonkers2 - 7/21/2004 11:50:20 AM We shouldn't have to put a gun to our head or run our car off a cliff. Which many would are not capable of doing when the time comes. We need a reliable version of the Eskimo tradition for the aged and infirm. 6235. thoughtful - 7/21/2004 9:40:33 PM Of course, old age is no guarantee of alzheimers, to wit my husband's grandmother who made it to 106. I think she willed herself to die. She had contracted pneumonia and actually recovered from it. I think she was hoping that would end it, but when it didn't, she just stopped living a few months later. She was quite sentient up to the very end. I think it was hard on her outliving her oldest son who died when he was 82. (We now think he died of undiagnosed lyme disease.) But she told me of being a young girl and having to take care of her grandfather who was 103...clearly long life ran in her side of the family. 6236. arkymalarky - 7/22/2004 2:27:18 AM I have a friend/colleague whose father is over 100 and was featured in the state paper after his 100th birthday. He's still very active. I got an op-ed piece published in the same paper some time ago on this ed reform stuff and he called to talk to me about it. No one would come near guessing his age over the phone. He's a Ham radio operator and loves computers and he still keeps a daily routine and regimen which begins with the paper's crossword puzzle, followed by emails, etc. My grandmother, on the other hand, at 88 years of age, lived several years beyond what was happy and comfortable for her, though she did get better emotionally, if not mentally, in the last two or three years. 6237. msgreer - 7/22/2004 10:38:01 PM Not all dementias are Alzheimers. I agree with that statement. I wanted to address Aricept again. What I wrote was based on 15 years of working with Alzheimers patients. The new report says Aricept holds off the disease for up to 18 months and this may be true to a point. As I see it once one has been diagnosed with Alzheimers they have several choices. Certainly they can take Aricept to see if it helps them and use that time wisely to plan for what is in store for the people who will be caring for you. It is an impossible situation for all families. I am a firm believer in death with dignity and I do not want to have to go to Oregon to have my wishes fulfilled. That said there are means to die with dignity. The Hemlock Society has made this their goal. There are several books one can get written by or suggested reading by the Hemlock Society. What is not fair..those of us in the medical profession have access to dying with dignity. We know what needs to be done..how to do what is needed. What I would like to see is everyone have the ability of free choice of how they want to handle a life threatening disease...certainly Alzheimers because it is not the person with the disease that will feel the pain. It is all those around them..the caregivers. Again, I do not have much faith in Aricept but I know the Alzheimers Association has come out with a new report stating it can slow the process for up to 18 months. Perhaps the most important thing to do is update your living will..make it air tight. Speaking of living wills..one important aspect to cover is if you are out of the state you live in give permission for your surrogates to get you home. My mother paid alot of money to have an attorney draw up her living will in Florida..remembering each state has their own laws on dying with dignity. 6238. msgreer - 7/22/2004 10:39:49 PM Also, a living will is just as it says..living. It can be changed as often as you want. You can changed surrogates you have chosen to make medical decisions for you as well as change any specific request you want followed. If anyone wants to take a look at my living will I would be happy to forward it to them. Contact me at nurseisin@yahoo.com. Remember my living will was written according to Florida law. 6239. msgreer - 7/22/2004 10:40:16 PM Hi arky. Nice to see you. 6240. msgreer - 7/22/2004 10:48:14 PM Just as important as having a living will is discussing your wishes with your family and friends and your doctor. You would be surprised how often the family has had to act as advocate to get your living will respected at the time you need it. Doctors are hesitant to follow a living will at times...even after you have taken the time to let your wishes be known. Also, any surrogate you name and you need two in case the first one is not available or can not handle making the tough decisions. Your surrogates can not witness your living will. You need two witnesses and get it notarized. Then send copies to all your doctor, family members and close friends. Keep a copy close at hand too. 6241. wonkers2 - 7/26/2004 10:59:12 AM Thanks, MSG, for the good advice!
Just watched Jimmy Carter's address and interview with Jim Lehrer. No signs of Alzheimer's there. He is amazingly clear and lucid in his speech and, more important, in his responses to Lehrer's questions. 6242. judithathome - 7/26/2004 10:31:28 PM Yes, his eyes were snapping like lasers into Jim's! 6243. robertjayb - 7/28/2004 6:42:46 AM Oh Joy!
Flush with F9/11 money, Michael Moore is planning his next movie.
I will be called Sicko.
It will be about Health Maintenance Organizations.
Har.... 6244. robertjayb - 8/11/2004 1:41:33 AM Shared Care (described in the NYTimes) is common sense program that improves patient care, increases efficiency and saves overall costs.
What's not to like? Well, doofus, it might trim physicians' income just a tad. Can't have that. 6245. Absensia - 8/12/2004 12:08:22 AM I just got a popup telling me to send a message to my Congressmen that I am concerned about healthcare. I was surprised to see it, since I have popup blockers on my computer. But what was worse was the prewritten message said that something to the effect that I support President Bush's position on health care! This is so odious I'm also posting it in the elections thread. 6246. thoughtful - 8/23/2004 5:00:24 AM For those of you with auto-immune disorders: a recent study done shows correlation between auto-immune disorders such as RA and schleroderma and thyroid dysfunction. Can't hurt to get your thyroid function and thyroid anti-bodies tested if this is you. 6247. wabbit - 8/23/2004 5:05:06 AM I get that done yearly. So far so good. I also get tested for Lyme - without a visible rash, I wouldn't necessarily notice the other symptoms. 6248. thoughtful - 8/23/2004 5:52:24 AM Glad to hear it. Given what I've learned about docs and graves disease, I suspect a lot of fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue is really undiagnosed or undertreated thyroid disease.
I've been coping with it for 25 years already. Is there some kind of silver anniversary award i can get for that?
;-) 6249. Bill Russell - 8/26/2004 1:31:40 AM ' my husband's grandmother who made it to 106. '
My great Aunt of Shadyside, Md. lived to be 108, and had a clear mind until the end. At the age of 100 she wrote a book about her life, which was published and is still in print.
She had gone to California as a young girl to teach Native American children. Later she owned and ran a hotel and was the Postmaster of Shadyside.
Remarkable lady! 6250. arkymalarky - 8/26/2004 7:29:01 AM How cool!
Most of the rural elderly out here are very active and a number of them have lived into their 90s. I don't know many who've gone to the nursing home.
I had a student once whose great-howevermany-grandmother was 114 and died some years after that, but I don't think her age was on an official record. Her parents had to have been slaves. I sent a student to interview her on audiotape once, but unfortunately we weren't able to get anything very coherent or unique from her.
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