My father suffered with Alzheimer's prior to his death and my mother passed not long after being diagnosed with dementia. While there is no rhyme or reason as to why people contract either disease, a person with a family history such as mine would not be though ill of if they prepared ahead of time for the untimely demise of their ability to remember what happened in their past. With that in mind (pun intended), I had the wild idea to begin writing my life story so that one day my children could read and know who their father was, what he accomplished (or did not accomplish) and how much he loved them. Both of my sons enjoyed watching videos we took of them when they were born and early stages of their life, I'm anticipating that reading a story of their fathers life will be equally enjoyable to them.
Should something happen to me physically or mentally prior to the completion of this story, I want my kids to know I have every intention on finishing. At present day I have begun memory exercises which, to me, are helpful. Alzheimer's is such a terrible joke that God plays on us, the great men and women who have contracted the disease, the ongoing research I hear about daily (as I receive daily emails from related websites) and the uncertainty of life itself makes me wonder if there really is any preventative action to take. I do not live in the best of neighborhoods, I do not carry a gun, I'm too old to run very fast, I've never been a karate expert, all of these items could easily lead to a smell coming from an alley where they will find my body. I would probably laugh if I knew what they found of value as most days the only item I carry that anyone would want is my cell phone. I have, over the past several months, begun taking a real look at my health and taking great measures to improve it such as decreasing the amount of alcohol I consume to little or none (yes, I know I did drink a lot), decreasing the amount I eat to one meal a day (although this is starting to effect my blood sugar pretty bad) and walking a great deal (lately this has meant 6 miles a day) all of these leading to a decrease in my weight and an increase in strength as well as overall health. I started taking different supplements that I believe are worth taking, one of which being fish oil, daily. It is my hope that all of the above will allow me time, with help from Gods good grace, to live to be of some good to my kids. As of today I have no one else in my life of consequence that I am of any good to.
After watching the movie Still Alice I realized that although a person may be incredibly intelligent, be in exceptional health, practice every possible mental exercise available as well as live a safe and secure life, they can still contract this terrible disease rendering them a helpless vegetable in a very small amount of time. I would like to state here, and probably repeat elsewhere in this story, that my children have my permission to allow an order to not resuscitate me should the opportunity arise and I am of an unsound state to make such decisions. Leave my body to the U.S. Army to dispose of and spend as little as possible. Believe me I will not come back to haunt you should you decide to spend very little on my death, take the money and go out to dinner or use it to buy your own children a nice gift.
As of this date there is a large box of photos given to me by my aunt that my mother had before she passed, I keep intending to have them digitized to prevent any loss but they remain in their corrugated box. These would be very interesting to see as you read this, many of which are of my parents, family and myself very early on. I hope my sons keep these photos safe, who knows what methods of preserving such things will be available to them in the future. If by some chance this box of photos no longer exists because of my own mistakes in life, fire, or I am unable to remember where I last saw it I truly apologize. To think of items you have in your life and lose would drive you crazy. I have had some wonderful people and possessions and to think of what I've lost and why I lost them...well lets try to think of what we still have. Many people will say as long as you have your health be thankful but I feel like there were many things in my life that are gone which were much more important to me now.
