2012, Here We Go
Happy new year to everyone! The last few years have gone by very quickly, and I'm once again surprised to find myself celebrating a holiday season that ends before I have time to really enjoy it.
Before the festivities wrap up completely, I do have some comments and reflections for the new year:
First, and very important, THANK YOU for your readership and support of this blog. I will try to be just as generous with my time when viewing other blogs and projects. Responses have been very encouraging, and I appreciate everyone's patience during the times when posts are infrequent and truncated. My schedule gets pretty hectic, and in the spare moments I try to spend with my family.
Please know that I will not desert this blog; instead, please take my sporadic silences as signs that I am making new memories with my family, especially my mother, who thinks my computer is only good for streaming television shows, and who feels alienated when I devote my attention to typing. Please listen to the silences and hear my mother laughing at her favorite shows as we watch them together, or my father's voice reciting stories from their thirty-year marriage, or my sisters' reassurances to our family that we are at our best when we work together, or our muffled whispers when we realize my mother has changed again and we need to re-adapt to her.
A new year brings excitement and trepidation--this is a new year filled with new possibilities, but it also carries the question, will this be her last year? Will this be the last time my mother celebrates the new year? Will she still be at home? Will she know about Christmas in twelve months? And, more selfishly, will she remember me? Is this the year she forgets her friends, her family, her daughters, her husband?
These questions are nothing new, and they certainly aren't unique to my family, but they are always present. This does not mean, however, that I will be sitting back and waiting for the answers. My mother's degeneration will happen when it happens, but in the meantime, I will do my best to to make as many new memories with her as possible.
Indeed, 2012 does have the promise of change. Major legislative initiatives are being proposed in Congress that would make Alzheimer's a national priority. Regardless of political affiliation, this election year is a chance to share the message with our elected officials that we need a cure. Alzheimer's research has to be funded, and the 15 million family members and friends who provided 17 billion hours of unpaid care giving (valued at $202 billion last year*) need help. This is a formidable task, but the voices of those affected are growing in number, and they are getting louder.
Let's face our fears and make 2012 the year when Alzheimer's stops being brushed under the rug.
To the hundreds of thousands of people who will be diagnosed with Alzheimer's and dementia this year (and the thousands whose diagnosis will be delayed or mislabeled): I'm sorry. You, your family, your friends, have a marathon nightmare ahead. Research your options now and make plans. Know that you are not alone. Find local support groups or make your own. Remember to approach each day on its own terms. Find things that you enjoy, and don't be afraid to laugh.
You still have a life to live, so enjoy 2012 for all it's worth--I know I will.
(*Statistics taken from 2011 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures http://www.alz.org/downloads/Facts_Figures_2011.pdf)
Before the festivities wrap up completely, I do have some comments and reflections for the new year:
First, and very important, THANK YOU for your readership and support of this blog. I will try to be just as generous with my time when viewing other blogs and projects. Responses have been very encouraging, and I appreciate everyone's patience during the times when posts are infrequent and truncated. My schedule gets pretty hectic, and in the spare moments I try to spend with my family.
Please know that I will not desert this blog; instead, please take my sporadic silences as signs that I am making new memories with my family, especially my mother, who thinks my computer is only good for streaming television shows, and who feels alienated when I devote my attention to typing. Please listen to the silences and hear my mother laughing at her favorite shows as we watch them together, or my father's voice reciting stories from their thirty-year marriage, or my sisters' reassurances to our family that we are at our best when we work together, or our muffled whispers when we realize my mother has changed again and we need to re-adapt to her.
A new year brings excitement and trepidation--this is a new year filled with new possibilities, but it also carries the question, will this be her last year? Will this be the last time my mother celebrates the new year? Will she still be at home? Will she know about Christmas in twelve months? And, more selfishly, will she remember me? Is this the year she forgets her friends, her family, her daughters, her husband?
These questions are nothing new, and they certainly aren't unique to my family, but they are always present. This does not mean, however, that I will be sitting back and waiting for the answers. My mother's degeneration will happen when it happens, but in the meantime, I will do my best to to make as many new memories with her as possible.
Indeed, 2012 does have the promise of change. Major legislative initiatives are being proposed in Congress that would make Alzheimer's a national priority. Regardless of political affiliation, this election year is a chance to share the message with our elected officials that we need a cure. Alzheimer's research has to be funded, and the 15 million family members and friends who provided 17 billion hours of unpaid care giving (valued at $202 billion last year*) need help. This is a formidable task, but the voices of those affected are growing in number, and they are getting louder.
Let's face our fears and make 2012 the year when Alzheimer's stops being brushed under the rug.
To the hundreds of thousands of people who will be diagnosed with Alzheimer's and dementia this year (and the thousands whose diagnosis will be delayed or mislabeled): I'm sorry. You, your family, your friends, have a marathon nightmare ahead. Research your options now and make plans. Know that you are not alone. Find local support groups or make your own. Remember to approach each day on its own terms. Find things that you enjoy, and don't be afraid to laugh.
You still have a life to live, so enjoy 2012 for all it's worth--I know I will.
(*Statistics taken from 2011 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures http://www.alz.org/downloads/Facts_Figures_2011.pdf)
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