Last week I sent a brief email to the paper, telling them shamelessly how I am a top-ranked, syndicated, award-winning blogger about Alzheimer's and I'm having a huge tag sale this weekend and giving the money to charity. And they called me yesterday. Interviewed me today. I tried to come up with some thoughts to share; in no particular order, here they are:
There are no Alzheimer's suvivors. There are no hollywood-style moments of perfect clarity. From the moment of diagnosis--from before then, even--it's all downhill.
When I was a teenager, several people around me died of cancer--my gandpa's sister, my friend's dad, my grandpa--and I thought cancer was the worst thing ever. And if I thought about death, I wished with all my heart 'please don't let it be cancer.' Now I've seen Alzheimer's Disease and it's so much worst. There is no proper goodbye with AD. It's just a downward spiral, and every time you think it can't possibly get any worse, it does. Now I wish not to get Alzheimer's with a fevor unknown to my teenage self.
I'm sure there is a worse disease out there than AD. I don't want to know. Honestly. I don't even want to imagine it.
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I am worried that I or my son will get Alzheimer's. Like you it used to be cancer. With Cancer you know what is going on almost or up to the end. With Alz's. You are gone sometimes years before you die. Congrats on the newpaper interview.
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