Success and Failure Olympian Style

My idea of a quad is to become completely engrossed in the Olympics every four years. Now that I have a DVR, I can pretty much watch every minute of televised action. I find myself sitting in front of the TV at midnight watching the luge. Hello, don’t they all pretty much look alike rocketing down an ice slide at 80 miles per hour?

What about that skateboarding? Those folks are crazy. They risk  life and limb for a shot at the gold. And one little mess-up—a bad landing after spinning, flipping, performing death-defying antics in the air—and  all is for nothing. What about that girl that broke her helmet? She looked like she was out cold, but about the time help arrived, she was back on her feet snowboarding to the finish line.  Of course, she had failed to get a medal or a decent score, but what a picture of success to see someone overcome that type of fall. What about the athletes who are broken and pinned back together, performing with broken ribs, recovering from surgery, or performing with a shot of Novocain to dull the pain?

Watching the Olympics really has made me think about the perception of success and failure. One person’s bronze medal means failure while signifying another person’s success. Of course, I always want to see the United States snag the gold, but, hey, when you compete against the best athletes in the world, you can’t always expect to be top dog.

Contests are won and lost by one-hundredths of a second. It seems strange for commentators to talk about how a lap in speed skating is slow if it is over 30 seconds. Olga Graf, from Russia, was spurred on by the home-country crowd and was pleased as punch to win a bronze medal.

On the other hand, a bronze medal had the USA’s mogul star Hannah Kearney in tears. She expected gold, not bronze. She was so emotional she couldn’t finish the interview, but turned her head as the tears flowed. Everyone wants gold, even silver just doesn’t seem good enough. You almost have to admire someone who so firmly believes he or she is so good that it is unfair that another person in the world is a few nanoseconds faster or can jump a tad higher, or was just plain having a good day to offset your bad one.

Bode Miller missed the podium in the men’s downhill, but in a way considered his run a success. He met his main objective: “Not kill myself was the primary (objective).”

My favorite event is figure skating, and we had a treat this year with the new team event. The good news was that we had some excellent skaters that dug us out of the hole made by the first two skaters. Davis  and White along with Ashley Wagner  put the USA in the top five teams to vie for medals. The bad news was that with the scoring system, we could never get higher than bronze. The Ashley Wagner frown that has gone viral on the Internet is not because of the bronze, but because of a much lower score than she expected.

For some who have no hopes of winning, the Olympic experience is reward enough. Take the Cool Running Jamaican bobsled team. A simple thing like losing their luggage, and equipment, on the trip over didn’t deter them from having a good time. They just smile and everyone loves them. They are successes without a medal of any color.

It’s no wonder with the pressure to perform nerves can overcome athletes chosen to represent their country in the Olympics. We all know that confidence trumps nerves every time. It isn’t always the best of the best that turn in the outstanding performance. It may be the person with no expectations, no pressure.

We can learn a lesson from the Olympians: If you “fail” to be the best, it is still a giant leap above those who let fear of failure take them out of the competition.

  

copyright © Feb 2014 by L.S. Fisher

http://earlyonset.blogspot.com

Today and Yesterday

Grandpa Everett Whittle and mules Jack and Pete

Today has become a lazy Sunday morning. Between the ice and small layer of snow, the world seems to be at a complete standstill. At least I am personally at a standstill since there’s no way I’m venturing out.

This hasn’t been the weekend I planned, for sure. I thought Saturday would be spent watching my oldest granddaughter play in a basketball tournament, but when the roads became hazardous with ice, they cancelled the tourney. Today should have been Writers’ Guild, but that, too, was cancelled.

After watching Joel Osteen, I picked up an old magazine—part of my retirement plan is to read and recycle all the magazines that have been “saved” for reading—and saw an article “Where Have the Quail Gone?” That question has plagued me for years along with where have all the whippoorwills gone? Or for that matter, what the heck has happened to the cottontails?

When I was growing up, the night was full of the quail’s “bob-bob white” call harmonized by “whippoorwill.” I’m not sure when the sounds disappeared from the night, I just know it has been a long time, and I miss the music of their calls drawing me back to simpler yesterdays.

Rabbits were never that plentiful in the Ozarks where I grew up, but when I moved north of Sedalia, rabbits were everywhere. It was not unusual to see dozens of them on a single trip to town. Now? I’ve seen one rabbit this winter.

I miss the night sounds of my youth and the cottontail’s footprints in the snow. It may just seem like small losses, but several small losses add up to big ones.

We know the major losses in life are the people and places we loved. Last week, I pulled up Facebook to see pictures of my Grandpa Capps and my Grandpa Whittle on the same day. Funny, how many of the photos I remember seeing, while others I had never seen before. My brother posted a picture of my Grandpa Whittle with his mules. What were the mules’ names? For some reason, this question plagued me along with where have all the bobwhites, whippoorwills, and rabbits gone.

I asked the question, and when I had no response, I dredged up the names “Jack and Jenny.” No one on Facebook knew the answer so I called my mom. She consulted with my Aunt Lebetta and they came up with Jack and Pete. That sounded right to me.

Old photos are keys that unlock forgotten memories. They are strong reminders of people long lost. Seeing a photo of my grandma makes me remember how her hair felt when she let me braid it for her. After I braided it, surely not as neatly as she could have, she would pin her hair in coils on her head and push in tortoise shell combs.

I was close to the three grandparents who lived close to me. I regret that I never knew my Grandma Capps who lived in Kansas. I’ve read her stories in the family genealogy book and admire her for her struggles and hardships in life. She told the stories of her youth and not so much about when she raised a large family as a divorced mom during a time when that wasn’t as usual, or acceptable, as it is today.

Loss is around us. When the house is silent as it is now, and the yard barren and empty, no cars passing by on the road, loss is evident. It seemed that no matter how bad the roads, Jim would have been out on them. Before we lived next door to his mom’s house, we would have ventured out. She would have a pot of coffee on, homemade biscuits in the oven, and a big skillet of gravy cooking.

My Bisquick biscuits and gravy tasted good this morning, although they fell short of the real-deal that lives in my memories of the yesterdays of my life. But the thing is, the way to deal with loss is to make new and better memories by living each day to the fullest. I may be stuck at home, but that’s not a bad thing.

Family is a phone call, an Internet click away. I have work to do, and I’m happy and healthy. Yesterday lives in my memory, today is what I make of it, and tomorrow is full of adventure.

Copyright © February 2014 by L. S. Fisher

www.earlyonset.blogspot.com

Happy Memories

Last weekend, I fixed a cup of tea while my youngest granddaughter told me about her week. “What have you been doing lately, Grandma Linda?” she asked.

“Well,” I said as I repeatedly dunked my tea bag with a spoon, “lately I seem to just spend a lot of time here at home. Some days, I don’t even go outside.”

She looked into the candy dish, turned, and smiled at me. “You know, Grandma Linda, this house holds a lot of happy memories for you.”

I looked up from my steaming cup of tea and said, “You are so right. It is full of happy memories.”

This is the house that Jim and I built—and I mean that literally. I’m talking countless hours of lifting two by fours, hammering nails, laughing and arguing about where the walls should be, how many outlets each room needed, where to put phone jacks, how to cover up a boo-boo. Talk about a house built with love. We didn’t have much money or a big bank account, just a dream that we could build our own home if we made enough sacrifices. We borrowed as little as possible and managed to have the house completely paid off shortly after we finished building it.

Of course, it took several years to build the house, but as soon as we moved in, happy memories were in the making. Our sons were nearly grown by that time so it wasn’t long before they married and started their own families giving Grandpa Jim and I more family to love.

Now, Jim is gone and lives only in our memories. I recently retired, and I’m taking well to my new lifestyle. Although I may not make it out the door every day, I always find much to do and my life is still full and busy.

After jumping out of bed bright and early yesterday for some Alzheimer’s volunteer work in town,  I was back to my new routine this morning. I woke up at 8:00 and finished the novel I was reading. I couldn’t seem to stop reading the intriguing story of family secrets, loss, and learning to live again. I guess I could relate to the importance of breaking away from sad thoughts and finding a pathway beyond past heartaches or failures to a new future. Different, yes, but still something to fill my heart with joy.

I took time to read the paper this morning—not the usual headline skimming method I usually use.  Normally, I do not read obituaries if I don’t recognize the names. I just move on to something else. This morning, I took time to read the two obituaries printed in our small town paper. These were people who lived and left their imprint on the hearts of their families, and I just felt a compulsion to read their stories.

Finis “Ed” Sumpter, 76, was a decorated Air Force veteran. He served two tours of duty in Vietnam and was awarded the bronze star. He retired after twenty years with the rank of Chief Master Sergeant. Then, I read 91 year old Mary Cauvel’s story. She had been an aircraft electronics assembler for North American Aeronautics and worked on the Apollo Program in the mid-sixties. Here were two people whose stories I would have missed completely if I hadn’t taken a moment to read the brief summary of their lives. Can you imagine the hardships they overcame in their lifetimes so they could build happy memories of people, places, and events?

Life should be full of happy memories, and the trick is to focus on those life moments. Long after houses and people are gone, traces of happy memories live on and on in our hearts.

copyright January 2014 by L. S. Fisher

www.earlyonset.blogspot.com

Alzheimer’s Advocates Succeed in Increasing Research Funding

Sometimes being an Alzheimer’s advocate can be frustrating. It seems that our voices of reason often fall on deaf ears. I’ve gone to Washington, D. C., thirteen consecutive times to ask for an increase in funding for Alzheimer’s research.

Successes are the super exciting part of being an advocate. Last week we experienced an unprecedented victory in the battle against Alzheimer’s. The Alzheimer’s Association and more than 600,000 advocates fist pumped when $122 million increase in Alzheimer’s research funding sailed through Congress and was signed by the President.

Alzheimer’s Association CEO, Harry Johns, said these additional resources could “convert scientific opportunity into life-changing outcomes.” Here’s a breakdown of the funding: $100 million for the National Institute on Aging for research, $3.3 million to support caregivers, $4 million to train health professionals on Alzheimer’s issues, $10.5 million to expand home and community based services, and $4.2 million for outreach activities to increase awareness. Another $30 million will be used for brain research that can impact Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases.

Increased funding for Alzheimer’s creates hope for more than five million Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease. An Alzheimer’s cure is possibly the largest single factor toward saving the future of Medicare and Medicaid. Compare these numbers:  Spending on Alzheimer’s research in 2013—$484 Million NIH+$80 million directors’ budget, compared to Medicare spending of $107 billion and Medicaid of $35 billion spent on those with Alzheimer’s disease. Is this a wise use of our money?

I’ve lost a loved one to an Alzheimer’s type of dementia and know it is virtually impossible to describe that decade of loss with mere words. I often try, but saying how it was for us, and how it is for millions now, falls far short of the experience.

The sad thing is that it usually takes a personal experience before a person reaches that level of comprehension. That means another person, another family, another circle of friends offer support and love to ease the inevitable outcome of an incurable, virtually untreatable, disease. A disease that unravels years of accomplishments, skills, hopes and dreams.

An advocate’s job is to keep chipping away at the hope for a cure—to remain unwavering through the ups and downs of being a voice for millions who would have their voices silenced. To continue the battle of education about a disease that is not a joke about cute little old men and women whose forgetfulness makes us laugh. It’s about slamming home the reality that this disease causes pain and heartache for entire families. Families who are often caught off guard by the ugly fact that Alzheimer’s can happen in the best person—in the most brilliant person.

Before this recent increase, the National Institutes of Health estimated that $484 million would be available for Alzheimer’s research funding in 2014. The amount spent on Alzheimer’s research is small compared to billions spent on other diseases. We do not want funding decreased to other major killer diseases, but we want the same success for Alzheimer’s disease. We want to have survivors at our Walks!

copyright © January 2014 by L.S. Fisher

www.earlyonset.blogspot.com 

Like a Steel Trap

How many people do you know that have a mind like a steel trap? These people can seem to remember everything, and then some. Don’t you just sometimes wonder how much of that stuff they make up?

I read an article this morning in American Profile called “Flex Your Memory Muscle.”  With my interest in Alzheimer’s, any article memory related catches my attention. This article was particularly interesting since I had never heard of the USA Memory Championships—or if I’d ever heard of the contest, I forgot all about it.

These “mental athletes” are known as mnemonists. These people learn a vast amount of information—it would almost seem the more useless, the better. Yep. One guy, Johnny Briones, spends two hours a day memorizing the order of a randomly shuffled deck of cards. That might be a useful skill for Vegas, but don’t know how much it would matter in the real world. I digress. The point is to hone your memory skills through these mental exercises. Use it or lose it.

When a person has Alzheimer’s, their hippocampus, where short term memory resides, shrinks. Dr. Majid Fotuhi, author of Boost Your Brain: The New Art and Science Behind Enhanced Brain Performance, likens memorization to “pushups for your hippocampus.”

I don’t know about you, but I think my hippocampus could use some exercise. I do have a vast amount of trivia stored in my brain, no doubt cluttering up my cortex. My poor cortex has all this information safely stored away, but with all those little chunks of info, retrieving it, especially when I need it, is not likely to be that darned easy. So often, I’ll know that I know something, but can’t bring it to the forefront of my mind at the right time. No, I’ll wake up out of a sound sleep with the illusive piece of information I couldn’t retrieve when I needed it.

Several months ago, my youngest son observed that, “Mom, your memory isn’t as good as it used to be.”

I agreed, but had to add, “As long as I remember well enough to do my job, I’m fine. When I retire, I won’t have to remember anything anymore.”

So, soon after I quit going to work on a regular basis, I promptly forgot a hair appointment. Okay, so this had happened before—once in the last thirty years. How did I forget it when it was on my Google calendar, that set off an alarm on my cell phone? Well, I was working on an anthology that used a different Gmail account. Therefore, my Google Calendar wasn’t up like it usually is. My cell phone buzzes constantly, so I just ignored it. I was blissfully ignorant until about two hours too late when suddenly, “ding, ding, ding,” that little piece of info made its way to the forefront of my brain.  

People with Alzheimer’s lose their short-term memory and the long-term memory becomes more vivid and seems to be recent, rather than distant events. It only adds to the confusion when they can no longer remember or recognize a spouse or children.

There are a few things about memory that are different from person to person that has nothing to do with ability to retain knowledge. It has to do with selected memory. Some people select to remember the good times, the happy times, and not just the bad things. I tend to be that way.

I’m only going to pass through this world once, and I want my memories to be of the good times. Memorization comes through repetition, focus, and retrieval from the folds of your brain. If you don’t make a habit of focusing on the bad, those memories will become more faded. They may not go away, but they also won’t determine the course of your life.

Each one of us has bad memories, possibly even horrid memories. We control the focus and quality of our memories. It is my brain, my hippocampus, my cortex.

Do I want to use my “memory muscle” to make my life better, or miserable? I choose better! I will never be a mnemonist, but I hope to keep my good memories, happy memories for a long, long time. I’d take that over memorizing a deck of cards any day.

copyright © by L. S. Fisher, January 2014

http://earlyonset.blogspot.com

Strong to the Finish – Vitamin E

Sometimes research verifies what physicians or people have learned through good old fashioned trial and error. Without a cure or effective treatment for Alzheimer’s, many have tried alternative methods. One of the many alternative treatments for Alzheimer’s is Vitamin E.

Jim took 800 milligrams (1200 IU) of Vitamin E a day. He took this under a physician’s care. The thing that impressed me about Vitamin E wasn’t that it made a lot of difference in Jim’s cognitive abilities, but rather an unrelated condition. Jim had a sore on his lip that just wouldn’t go away. Our family physician decided it needed to be biopsied. At about that same time, his neurologist put him on Vitamin E. Within two weeks, his lip was completely healed.

The most recent study of Vitamin E conducted on 613 veterans shows promise as a means of slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s—something that traditional medications have failed to do. Yes, the disease still progressed in the study group taking a 2,000 IU (1,333 mg.) daily dose of Vitamin E. The good news is that the group retained ability to do basic tasks longer than the group that took a placebo. In fact, the slower rate of decline amounted to about a six month delay in progression.

Six months may not seem like much on the surface, but at the Alzheimer’s Forums I’ve attended, statistics have shown that any treatment that will slow the progression of Alzheimer’s amounts to huge benefits. If a person can delay going into a nursing home by six months, it saves the family an average of $248 per day, or $45,260 for the room alone. As we all know, the family pays for a log of “extras” when a loved one is place in a nursing home.

Like many dietary supplements, Vitamin E has met with mixed reviews. An early study of Vitamin E was considered a warning since that study showed a higher death rate in the people who took more than 400 IU of Vitamin E a day. Most studies indicate that toxicity occurs when doses exceed 3000 IU. This is not surprising since when a Vitamin K deficiency is involved Vitamin E can cause prolonged bleeding and affect the blood’s ability to clot. Other signs of toxicity are double vision, fatigue, muscle weakness, and diarrhea. The National Academy of Sciences set the tolerable upper limit at 1,000 milligrams per day.

The Recommended daily dosage of Vitamin E is 15 milligrams (22.5 IU). As you can easily see, it is a quantum leap from 22.5 IU to 2000 IU.

  

Vitamin E deficiency can cause various symptoms: gallbladder disease, liver disease, celiac disease, peripheral neuropathy, and skin problems.

What is Vitamin E anyway? It is a group of fat-soluble vitamins that are active throughout the entire body. Tocopherols come in four different forms—first names of Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta. Alpha tocopherol was used in the study.

Vitamin E has been studied in treatments of other conditions. Vitamin E protects the skin from UV damage. Alpha tocopherol reduces the risk of bladder cancer.  Most supplements contain alpha tocopherol, but it is gamma-tocopherol that fights prostate cancer. Vitamin E may play a role in the prevention or treatment of a long list of conditions which includes everything from acne to several types of cancer. Some of the biggies, besides cancer of course, are diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.

Before going on Vitamin E, you need to check with your physician to make sure the supplement will not interact with other medications or make another condition worse.

In the meantime, you can follow Popeye’s example and eat your spinach. It is an excellent source of Vitamin E. Don’t like spinach? Try Swiss chard or turnip greens for other top sources. If you prefer nuts, sunflower seeds and almonds are both very good sources. The really good thing about getting Vitamin E from foods is that no known side effects from food exist. Even if you take supplements, eating Vitamin E rich foods enhance the benefits.

I think Popeye was really on to something when he said, “I’m strong to the finish ’cause I eats me spinach.” He was loading up on Vitamin E. And to top it off, he loved Olive Oil, and that just happens to be another source of Vitamin E.

Copyright © L. S. Fisher January 2014

http://earlyonset.blogspot.com

A Blast From the Past

What better way to end the year than with a blast from the past?

I checked my PO Box yesterday and found an order for Alzheimer’s Anthology of Unconditional Love. It was obviously from the ad that ran in Rural Missouri in 2007 when the book first came out. It happens occasionally. Someone is browsing through their old copies, come across the ad, and order a book.

This afternoon, I went into Facebook and saw where someone posted a note on a vote for my blog in Healthline’s contest, “Did you see the ad for Linda’s book in Rural Missouri?”  What? I had just gotten my Rural Missouri today. I pulled it out, leafed through it and there was the ad. Looks just as good as it did when the book was hot off the press.

The story of the anthology is a story in itself. I had never published a book before, but after joining the Columbia Chapter of the Missouri Writers’ Guild, I learned a lot about self publishing. I married that with my fundraising experience and came up with the idea to get sponsors, publish a book of Alzheimer’s stories, and give the proceeds to the Alzheimer’s Association. I pitched the idea to the staff at the Mid-Missouri Chapter office and they didn’t think I was crazy, so I proceeded.

One small problem to overcome. How could I get the stories? I sent emails to all my Alzheimer’s contacts, posted on message boards, and spread the word. Then, Jim McCarty of Rural Missouri asked me to write an op-ed about Alzheimer’s and the anthology. Once it was published, the stories came pouring in. The Chapter made the selections, and I began to build a book of compelling slice-of-life stories about our friends and neighbors who met Alzheimer’s up close and personal. These were the stories of caregivers’ unconditional love and the courage of those diagnosed with the disease.

Sandy Jaffe, the owner of BookSource and an Alzheimer’s advocate I met at the Alzheimer’s Forum in Washington, D.C., offered his expertise. He became my hero in this story. He hired a cover designer, found a distributor, and a printer. He called in favors and the book was published at no personal cost for me or the Alzheimer’s Association. Proceeds would be pure profit. Before long, we sold the first 1,000 copies and began the process for the second printing.

Just when I thought the books were about all gone, Sandy found some in his warehouse and sent them to me. So, luckily, I have plenty of books to fill any orders the ad might generate.

By the way, if you don’t get the Rural Missouri and would like to order a copy of Alzheimer’s Anthology of Unconditional Love: The 110,000 Missourians with Alzheimer’s the information is on my Website at www.lsfisher.com, or you can send $10 + $2.50 shipping to me at PO Box 1746, Sedalia MO 65302. Please make your checks payable to Alzheimer’s Association.

Maybe the blast-from-the-past ad will bring in some funds for the Alzheimer’s Association to help them further their mission. As we leave the past behind and move on to a New Year, let’s each of us resolve to do our part to make this a better world for those who have dementia.

How can you join the fight against Alzheimer’s?  Lace up your shoes and participate in a Walk to End Alzheimer’s next fall, visit a loved one with the disease, help a caregiver, write your senators and representatives about Alzheimer’s research funding, or make a donation to your local Alzheimer’s Chapter. If each of us takes one small step, we can circle the globe with love for those with the disease and create hope for a world without Alzheimer’s.

copyright © December 2013 by L. S. Fisher

http://earlyonset.blogspot.com 

’Tis the Season

’Tis the season to be _______. How would you fill in that blank? Of course, you may have the Fa, La, La, La song to convince you the word has to be “jolly.” The problem with Christmas and Jolly are they don’t always go together.

By its very nature, Christmas is a time of nostalgia, and folks, I’m here to tell you that nostalgia can be a dangerous, depressing emotion. If you have happy memories, you are sad because the past was happier than the present. If you have sad memories, you can become downhearted from thinking about it. It’s easily a lose, lose situation.

It’s also the season for stress on steroids. People are stressed about everything during the holidays second guessing themselves. Did I spend too much? Did I spend too little? Did I buy the right size? Will he hate it? OMG, hope she put a gift receipt in here so I can take this back.

And how many times have I pulled out the wrapping paper, scissors, bows, ribbons, and ho-ho-ho not a piece of tape in the house. Maybe I could hold this sucker together with all those address labels that every charitable organization in the United States sends me. A word from the wise—don’t do it!

Don’t forget all the Christmas events that may or may not be cancelled. The weather is always dicey this time of year. The Christmas parade was tossed forward from week to week until we ran out of weeks. I remember the years I worked on Christmas floats for Alzheimer’s and then later for my women’s group. It seems that I’ve always been fortunate enough to work in an unheated miserably cold building. I can’t even imagine the frustration of going through all that work just to have the weather throw a hissy fit every weekend in December.

Nothing says holiday season like hazardous roadways. Throw in a little freezing rain and a half foot of snow and it is a fool’s errand to rush around trying to buy those last minute presents. Then, I can’t help but ask myself—did I, or did I not, buy something at Target when I was in there a few weeks ago? I hardly ever shop at Target, but there I was…just at the perfect time for the credit/debit card bandits to strike.

It’s really a lot easier to enjoy Christmas when you reduce the pressure. I’ve tried to get my shopping list pared down to the bare bones. Just buying for the sake of buying isn’t my idea of fun. And those long lines snaking around the buildings while the wind chill is 40 below…no way! On Thanksgiving Day, no less. Black Friday was seriously anti-climatic after all the stores decided to skip being thankful for pushing the bargains. That darn Christmas stuff was out before Halloween. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Labor Day sales next year are the beginning of the Christmas Shopping Season. Why not just move it up to Independence Day? Firecrackers and tinsel. They do kind of go together, don’t you think?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not down on Christmas; it just doesn’t always seem to be the magical time of year for me. Oh, I enjoy Christmas lights and Christmas carols just as much as the next person. I’ve become a Hallmark Christmas Movie addict. The thing I love most is having my family over for our annual Christmas get-together. It’s a laid back, no pressure, big pot of chili good time. The reason I enjoy Christmas is because I have no expectations, I refuse to wax nostalgic, and I celebrate it without fanfare.   

The one thing I don’t care about is all that pressure to be, you guessed it, jolly. I’ll be happy because I choose to hold that emotion in my heart whether it’s Christmas or any of the other 364 days of the year. I’m a happy person. Jolly? Not so much.

copyright © December 2013 by L. S. Fisher

http://earlyonset.blogspot.com

A New Chapter

Some people embrace change while others participate after they’re pulled into it kicking and screaming. I’m not sure that I fit totally into either category; I just know that the only thing that stays the same is that everything changes. Okay, so I may have borrowed that expression from a country song, but darn it, I’m sure I’d have thought of it eventually.

My life is about to change dramatically. After thirty-three years of driving to Central Missouri Electric each day to report to work, I’m embarking on that long-sought-after, scary, wildly dramatic change called “retirement.” It’s what I’ve worked and saved for throughout my career.

Most of my waking hours have been spent inside the doors of that building sitting in front of a computer monitor. Some days were more challenging that others, but my work career was one filled with learning new skills. I’ve done everything from data entry to management and had a rare opportunity to see the Coop move from a manual system into the world of computers.

Our computer programs were on an IBM System 34 and did not have such luxuries as word processing. Before we had PC’s in the office, I typed the board minutes on a typewriter, and suffered through the frustration of having to retype an entire page if I left out a word. I’ll admit, I hated to give up the Smart System for Word Perfect, then later to “downgrade” to Word. After seeing those gigantic columnar ledgers that Ann Richards and Grace Arbuckle used, it gave me a much greater respect for spreadsheets.

I saw a lot of changes during my years at the Coop, and in retrospect, I’ll admit that most of them were for the better. Changes in my job kept it from ever becoming stale or boring. Even the people changed. I went from being the newbie, the first office employee to be hired in seven years, to being the person who had worked at the Coop the longest. That means I was working with a different set of people than those who were there when I first began.

There wasn’t a lot of turnover and most of us worked together for several years. Co-workers became family—some are like brothers and sisters, others are like crazy aunts or uncles, or distant cousins.  Just like family, you learn their quirks and learn to accept that as a part of the person, or better yet find humor in individual personalities.

At the employee/Christmas dinner, Kathy Page said I was getting ready to start a new chapter. For an avid reader and dedicated writer, that’s the perfect description for how I feel about retirement—a new chapter in a good book—one that keeps me turning the pages. It’s a book I don’t want to put down, I find it intriguing, mysterious, suspenseful and I keep flipping pages wanting to know what’s going to happen yet. My mind is rife with anticipation, excitement, and plans for what will happen next. My life’s book is filled with rich characters who move in and out of the pages, imprinting their images on my heart, filling my days with love and laughter.

Just like a good book, my life has been a quest, and a journey, into the unknown to conquer all kinds of evil and overcome failures. Like all good stories, the protagonist in my story (me) is flawed, makes mistakes, passes up opportunities, often misses the mark, but still manages to overcome those itty bitty character flaws to be triumphant in a small way.

Is this going to be a new chapter, or an entirely new book? It seems that retirement is in a way a happy conclusion to one book, and time to begin a new one. Oh, sure it’s going to be a series with many of the same characters, but a new set of adventures. Keep reading, because this new book promises to take a few strange twists and pack some surprises along the way.

Copyright © 2013 by L. S. Fisher

www.earlyonset.blogspot.com 

Rock the Cradle—and Check for Alzheimer’s

When we hold a newborn baby in our arms, we look into his or her eyes and wonder what kind of life is ahead for this new being. Our job as parents is to protect our children and keep them from harm. We shower them with love and envision how their future can reach greater heights than we ever did.

We worry about the little things—stomach aches that make the baby uncomfortable and makes him cry. We may worry about childhood diseases and make appointments for immunizations.

Unless a family has a serious inherited genetic disease, most parents don’t worry about what diseases their newborn might face later in life. Now, a new study may add to the list of new parental worries. Researchers have been looking for Alzheimer’s in the most unlikely place—in the brains of infants.

The tests on 62 infants aged 2-22 months began with a DNA test to determine which ones had the gene variant APOE-E4, a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. Sixty of the infants had the gene variant. MRI scans were used to measure activity in the infants’ brains to compare the infants without the variation to the ones with it.

Oddly enough, differences were observed in the brain scans of the infants. The infants with the APOE-E4 variant had an increased brain growth in the frontal part of the brain with less growth in the middle and back parts of the brain. This is similar to the brain activity in adults who have Alzheimer’s disease.

The type and number of copies a person has of the APOE (apolipoprotein E) allele is associated with the risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer’s. The APOE gene has several functions, including carrying blood cholesterol through the body. APOE is found in neurons and brain cells in healthy brains and in plaques in the Alzheimer’s brain. Three common alleles are E2, E3, and E4. E2 is thought to protect from Alzheimer’s, E3 (the most common) is thought to be neutral, and E4 is linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s. People with two E4 alleles, have a greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s, but may not develop the disease, just as people without any of the E4 variant may develop the disease.

The good news is that although these infants have the APOE-E4 variant, it doesn’t mean they will grow up to develop Alzheimer’s late in life. Even better, the infants with the variant didn’t show any developmental delays.

The study was intended to increase understanding of how the gene influences brain development. Sean Deoni, Brown University’s Advanced Baby Imaging Lab, said, “These results do not establish a direct link to the changes seen in Alzheimer’s patients, but with more research they may tell us something about how the gene contributes to Alzheimer’s risk later in life.”

The studies on infants is interesting and may be a piece of the puzzle when it comes to figuring out the genetic influence on Alzheimer’s. Just like any disease influenced by genetics, environment may be the key to provide an override of the gene pool and remaining healthy. Research shows that physical activity and good nutrition with healthy food choices can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Social interactions, puzzles and brain teasers are ways to keep your brain active.

Our children complete the circle of life. We hope they inherit our good traits and healthy genes and the risk-carrying genes are allowed to sink into infinity. When we rock the cradle, we need to worry less about genetic predispositions and concentrate on raising our children in a healthy environment.

Copyright (c) L. S. Fisher, December 2013

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