Moving my journal

I've decided to return to Simplesite to continue my journal.  
 Please join me there at my new and improved site:
MY JOURNAL

I'm shakin' in my boots

I had a look at the program for the Changing Melody Forum for Saturday.  The morning guest speaker is Dr. Jennifer Fogarty, a clinical neuropsychologist.  The afternoon speaker is Dr. Ken Shonk, a family doctor who has been doing public speaking for twenty years.  Sandwiched in between those two high profile people is little old me!  But worse than that...I speak after we eat lunch!!! What if I drop some food on my top, before I speak?  Well, I've devised a very nice little bib to wear to protect my top. I used miniature paper clamps and a gold chain.   I'll let you know how my invention worked!!!

Slow month

Still plugging along...doing this and that....and enjoying life.  I haven't attempted any more baking since the banana bread fiasco.  Only the top half of the loaf was edible!  I need to figure out a new recipe system, so just one recipe is visible at a time! 
I have another speaking engagement this Saturday at the Changing Melody Forum in Woodstock, Ontario, which is about four hours away.  I hope I'm able to help a few more folks on this journey.

Back to my normal self

Well, I guess I'm pretty well back to my normal self.  In fact I thought this morning would be an excellent morning to use up some overripe bananas in some banana bread.  I found my banana bread recipe in my binder, and proceeded to make it.  Somehow my eyes got onto the next page, and I ended up adding all the ingredients for Applesauce Pancakes into my mashed bananas.  Don't you just hate when something like that happens?   I added more flour to make it thicker....and now I'm waiting for my banana applesauce pancake bread to bake.  Anyone want to be my guinea pig?

Great news

We are very happy to report that our son's surgery went well. The tumor was successfully removed and Sandy was bright and alert this morning.  He expects to be home tomorrow.  Thank you all for your prayers and best wishes.  I think I will need to sleep for a week to get my brain unfogged, but it is indeed a happy fog!

Jim and I joined my brother in law Nick in his Parkinsons' Superwalk today in Ottawa.  Pictured above is Nick and some of the other super heroes!!  Nick raised nearly five thousand dollars for Parkinsons...way to go Nick!  It was a really fun day.  I accompanied Nick on the five kilometer walk on my Scooter....it was great fun!

Update on son

Sandy visited his neurosurgeon again yesterday, and received confirmation of his brain surgery for September 26th.  Our other four sons will be here to give Sandy their support.  Sandy, of course, is very positive, and when asked if he would consent to donating his tumor for science, immediately agreed, "as he won't be needing it anymore!".  The five boys are planning on having their annual golf game on the 24th.  We sure do have five great boys!!!

Lowering my cholesterol

Last week our doctor prescribed Ezetrol to lower my cholesterol.  It isn't a statin drug, so I agreed to take it.  However, my research indicated it was also known to sometimes cause muscle problems.  There is no way I need any more muscle issues going on, so I'm not going to take it.  Jim's sister Carly suggested I try flax seeds and chia seeds.  Both are known to lower cholesterol.  Also Chia seeds are a  major source of omega-3. They also contain high amounts of antioxidants, fiber, protein, calcium, magnesium and iron.  They have been recently touted as the new 'superfood'.  They are an amazing source of long-term energy.  So I will be taking 2 tablespoons of ground flax and 2 tablespoons of ground chia daily, and I'll let you know in a month when I have my next blood test how they worked at lowering my cholesterol.

Stressful week

A week ago we received news that our son Sandy, who is 40, has been diagnosed with a brain tumor.  According to his neurologist it is a grade two astrocytoma.  Now we wait for his appointment with the neurosurgeon in Toronto, which will hopefully be within a few weeks.  Sandy is still able to carry on work as an electrician, but isn't allowed to drive, because of his seizures.  His spirits are good and he has his mommy's positive outlook!  I'll keep you posted on any news in the weeks to come.

Doctor Appointment

I wanted to give you an update on my cholesterol levels.  We had our dr. appointment yesterday, and even though I've been taking 3 yellow peas a day, my cholesterol level is still up at 7.  I had great hopes for the yellow peas!  Not sure what we're doing about it yet, but I am refusing to get back on the statin drugs.  
I just spent the last twenty minutes going through all our cupboards looking for the noodle soup that my mouth is watering for.  I finally remembered the two packages were in the pile of stuff we left behind at Giant Tiger last time we shopped, because the noise in the store became more than I can handle.  I guess I'll have to settle for a salad for lunch!!

We had an enjoyable week with Jim's Mom visiting, along with her 4 month old puppy Buttons.  Having a puppy really cuts down on how much time you can spend shopping.  However I was able to find a neat solution which let us do all the shopping we wanted.  Buttons didn't seem to mind shopping at all from the duffel bag slung over my shoulder.
I'm totally enjoying my Kindle, and now have a Kindle case with light, so I can read out on my deck in the evening, after the sun goes down.  Life just can't get much better than this, I don't think!

I had an appointment with a physiotherapist on Monday to see if he could help with the nightly muscle spasms in my legs.  After a half hour consultation, he concluded that there was nothing he could do.  He did suggest having my electrolyte levels checked, and perhaps see a nutritionist to see if they might have some suggestions for me.  We have a doctor appointment schedule for two weeks, so we'll see what we can set up.  In the meantime, I'm totally delighted with my early birthday present from son Ralph and his wife Lisa of a KINDLE e-reader.  It even has text to speech, so it can read to me when I need to be busy doing something! I have yet to try out the browsing and emailing it does, but I'll keep you posted as I experiment with all the features. 

Words cannot possibly do justice to describe the absolutely fantastic week we've just enjoyed with our family.  If you had a chance to click on the link from my last Journal entry, you can visualize 30 to 38 of us enjoying the amenities provided to us.  (Various family members arrived for a day which added to the numbers.)  The week seemed to melt away at an incredible speed, and suddenly we were having to hug and kiss everyone goodbye until next time.  I won't be able to step on the scales for at least a month, after a whole week of indulging in every bit of scrumptious cooking that came from the huge kitchen that was at our disposal.  Thanks to our neighbors Ann and Barb's excellent care, our cats are still talking to us!   

Exciting Week Ahead

Our family are having a Family Retreat for a whole week, starting Sunday. You can picture us lounging around here!
There will be 28 to 30 of us....including 3 of our sons, and 10 of our grandkids and my sister June and her sweetheart Nick. Brother Dave and wife Margaret are also coming for a day visit.  We'll see if we can convince them to stay longer!  I am so excited!  I've got many lists prepared for shopping as well as packing.  Fortunately our neighbor Ann is able to come in and care for Angel and Baby, our two senior cats.  Barb and Eric said they'd also pop in occasionally for a visit, just so the girls don't feel terrible neglected.  I'll be taking along my laptop but I imagine I'll be having internet withdrawals big time!

A funny thing happened on the way....

I was scootering over to the recycle bin with my bag full of goodies when I had a brainwave that maybe I should just toodle up the laneway to the neighbours where Jim was cutting grass while they're on vacation.  Now the laneway is about 1/2 mile to the highway, and I was totally loving that I could be whizzing merrily along at top speed of about 5 miles per hour, when something flew into my mouth.  Now with my demented brain, it takes a wee tad longer trying to figure out what you should be doing about it.  I finally stopped my vehicle, and without losing my dentures, managed to spit whatever it was out.  Not, unfortunately, before it manage to sting me twice...on the tongue and at the back of my mouth.  So then I'm hurridly driving up to where Jim was cutting grass, hoping I wouldn't go into anaphylactic shock or any such thing!  So here I am, living to tell about it....and vowing to now keep my mouth tightly shut...or wear a face helmet.
 

Happy Canada Day

We've discovered, by trial and error, that I have almost no muscle spasms at night when I don't use my legs.  So I found this great scooter on kijiji, and I'm now able to galavant all over the campground!  Notice my pretty Canadian flag we installed for this special day!  Jim said he's going to have to install a personal tracking device on me to keep track of where I am. 

 

A Great Day

Our trip to Peterborough to attend the Alzheimers Society meeting went well.  We were early enough to first visit the graveyard where Jim's father and aunts and uncles are buried.  The meeting was held in a very luxurious retirement home called Canterbury Gardens.  I doubt any of us could afford to retire there! They had a buffet supper consisting of various sandwiches, cheese platter, veggie platter and desert tray.  Jim and I managed to find lots of food to eat without straying from our diets.  We picked sandwiches that just had meat, so we ate the meat and wrapped the bread in a napkin to dispose of later.  I had picked a quiet spot to sit and eat so I don't think anyone saw me stuffing bread in my purse!  The organizers thoughtfully had my speech at the beginning of the meeting, so when I finished speaking, I accepted a lovely gift basket and we were on our way home again.  Jim says I was 100% again, and everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy what I had to say.  Hopefully some folks there got a few tips they can use to make life easier.  Now its back to hauling wood and screwing screws!

Busy, busy days

It's hard to believe we're at the middle of June already!  Jim's Mother bought us a newer trailer, and we have been unbelievably busy removing the old one off our site, and getting the new one set up.  We are totally in love with our new 12' x 40' summer home!  Our son Sandy spent Sunday with us helping Jim level the old deck, and installing new deck boards.  He and his daughters will come again this weekend to help Jim finish up.  
Tomorrow we go to Peterborough where I am the guest speaker at the Alzheimers Society Annual General Meeting.  A day off from hauling wood and screwing deck boards!

We have now moved our two cats down to the summer trailer, so we are officially In Residence, and our flag is flying.  Sort of makes me feel like the Queen!  
We found the required yellow peas needed to lower my cholesterol.  I have a sealed jar sitting on the counter top so I remember to pop three a day.  I'm scheduled to have my cholesterol checked again in August, and I'll let you know how the peas worked.  Our friends at the campground have decided I will be their guinea pig.  The pharmaceutical companies should be quivering in their boots about now! 

Lowering cholesterol

My friend Linda emailed me after reading on my blog that I've once again stopped taking the statin drug and shared the following:

My friend who lives in New Hampshire is a nurse who was diagnosed with high cholesterol.  Her friend suggested that instead of taking any of the statins she try taking three whole yellow peas daily.  Her friend said that the same chemical as found in the statins was in the peas.  So she left the drugs on the shelf and started taking the peas.  When she returned to the doc to have her levels checked a few months later the doc was please to report that her numbers where back within the safe range.

Wouldn't that be totally amazing if it works?  I'm off to find a supply of yellow peas!!!

Happy Friday the 13th

We went to the trailer yesterday so Jim could get the lawns all ready for the weekend.  He finished washing down the walls and ceilings in the trailer so we have a nice fresh start.  I busied myself washing windows and screens, and even got a start at washing down the deck.  I was feeling so proud of myself for remembering to take everything, even the MagicJack phone.  Then I remembered I'd forgotten to pack my medications.  I missed my evening and morning pills and by afternoon my head was feeling like a large empty block.  I'm now making up a emergency package so this doesn't happen again! 

Cramping Legs All Gone

Even though I used my walker very faithfully, I was still having to jump out of bed at night to relieve the leg cramps.  While trying to think of what else had changed with me in the last month, besides my diet, I remembered our new doctor has put me back on a cholesterol lowering drug.  Of course when I checked the side effects of the drug, muscle cramping was staring me in the face!  I then remembered that I had stopped taking a statin drug a couple of years ago, because we had read it could be causing muscle cramping.  Needless to say, I've again stopped the statin drug, and so far I haven't been up dancing in the wee small hours.
We're at our summer trailer for the weekend  The grass is growing so fast with all the rains we've had, so Jim is out doing his "dancing" with his lawnmower!

Exciting news

I am very excited about a new speaking engagement.  I've been asked to speak at the Peterborough Alzheimer's Society Annual General Meeting next month.  I lived in Peterborough from 1972 to 1980, when I relocated from Alberta, and that is where Jim and I met.  It will be interesting to see if any of our old friends on our the same journey as we are.

Happy May Day

This is the time of year when warmer weather begins and flowers and trees start to blossom.  I wish the weatherman had been told that this morning, when we woke in our summer trailer with the winds howling, and our curtains billowing in the breezes.  We really do need to buy ourselves a 4 season trailer so we can be warm and comfy even if the weather changes.  We opened our trailer on Friday and Jim got all the lawns cut.  I have the inside all set up, except for washing the walls, but I can do that another day.  We've been trying to think why my nightly leg cramps are back again, and are wondering if its due to me not using my walker as much.   I wonder if I attach a leash to my walker, I might remember to not go out the door without it!

Happy Easter and Passover

We've had a few busy days with family visits and tonight we're having a dinner catered at our apartment.  I imagine Jim and I will take our own plates of food down with us as I'm sure there's not likely to be a thing we can eat with our funny diet.  We've discovered we can make some really nice flat breads in the George Foreman grill, and now I'm just experimenting with various flours to see what works best.  We made our first batch of ice cream yesterday, using coconut milk, strawberries and honey.  It was delicious.  Today I've made a coconut icecream.  I still have to try one using carob powder to give us our chocolate fix.  I do find I have to have a brain break quite often, or I start doing really wierd things in the kitchen! Oopss...brain quiver there....wierd should be "weird"! Yep!

From the inside out

There is a great article written by a doctor in England who has Picks Disease (frontotemporal dementia).  It is certainly worth having a read through. From the Inside Out

Jim's Mother is visiting for a few days.  She is having to suffer through all my cooking experiments as I try to find new and interesting meals on our new diet.  I haven't had to throw any more foods out, but we did find out that the millet flour we had used was rancid.  Apparently millet flour has a very short shelf life.  Our next visit to Kingston will be looking at flours sold at Asian and Chinese grocery stores, where we should be able to get very fresh flours.  We will probably do another Chinese Buffet as well.  I was delighted to discover last week that there were lots of food there we could indulge in and still stay on our diets!

Another speaking engagement

I have been asked by the Alzheimers Society of Oxford in Woodstock, Ontario to give my speech at their Changing Melody Forum in October.   I'm really pleased people are finding my speech helpful and it's a good feeling to know I might be helping a few more folks on this journey.

Doctor treats husband's alzheimers with coconut oil

I've read about this before and forgotten it.  Jim just found it in ALIVE, the Canadian natural health and wellness magazine.  Since we're not allowed to have corn oil or soy soil we are definitely switching to coconut oil.  Here's the link to the article.  I made pancakes this morning using tapioca flour and millet flour.  Jim had his with blueberies and I had mine with artificial syrup.  We each had one, then filed the rest in the Trash Bin!  yuck  Back to the drawing board!!

Foodprint 200+ IgG Food Intolerance Test

Jim and I have gotten the results back from the bloodwork we had done for the food intolerance testing called Foodprint.  Food intolerances can be the cause of many symptoms including bloating, weight problems, depression, sinus issues, headaches, anxiety, skin problems and insomnia to name but a few. So we're now changing our diet to avoid all the foods that our results indicate our bodies can't handle.  No more dairy, eggs, yeast, wheat flour, rice, beans, cabbage, corn, peas and sugar to name just a few.  Each day is a new adventure in shopping and eating.   I'm still looking for a supplier of water buffalo milk, which is the only dairy that we can have!  The good news is we can eat ostrich, octopus, eel, cuttle fish and barnacles if we can catch them!
Click here to see the list of foods that were tested for. 

Another interview

The Alzheimers Society has two videos on youtube....one is a clip of Christine Bryden speaking to the Forum

The second is a short interview I gave after the Forum.  Unfortunately there was a lot of background noise, however I think I got the message across that we still have a lot of good living to do.

Another article

Here is the third article done by The Star in Toronto:

The Star

Two of our sons have phoned to say the CBC link to my video is broken, however I imagine CBC will get it up and running tomorrow.

Great success

Just a quick note to say the Changing Melody Forum was a huge success today, and my speech went very well.  Here is the link to the CBC article and video which came out today as well.

Click here

Globe and Mail article

Rethinking our approach to Alzheimer’s

Judith Timson

A new pamphlet for Alzheimer’s patients suggests readers 'see the world through the eyes of your grandchildren and the young people in your life.'

I was talking on the phone with a woman named Brenda about public speaking – which as a challenge ranks very near the top of everyone’s nightmare list.
“In the beginning, you could not have paid me any amount of money to speak in public,” Brenda told me. “The first time I did I was a mess.” Now she can speak for up to an hour – “I do have to have notes” – and always has people to prompt her.

• 'Since her illness, she just grips so tight'
• Finding the normal person behind the dementia
• 10 warning signs of Alzheimer's

She’ll be speaking briefly this weekend to more than 200 people at the Sheraton Hotel in Toronto, but what’s remarkable is that Brenda Hounam has Alzheimer’s disease. She’s one of the organizers of A Changing Melody, an interactive forum complete with audience activities, which will also be broadcast live online for people living with dementia, their caregivers and professionals, to be held Saturday in conjunction with the 2011 Alzheimer's Disease International conference.
Ms. Hounam, a former accountant who lives in Paris, Ont., was diagnosed at 53 with the early onset of a disease that has only one public profile. It’s portrayed as a tragedy that robs its victims of their selves, upends families and – you’ve seen the headlines – is the potential calamity awaiting us all. In fact, some middle-aged people I know are so terrified that they will get “it,” they can’t even joke about having a lousy memory.
Brenda Hounam says that when she was first diagnosed in 2000, “I lost everything.” She couldn’t work and when she told people about her condition, she says, she was met with “patronage, avoidance and denial.”
But now she is passionate about conveying that “there’s hope and possibility.” The general public, she says, doesn’t know anything about that.
She’s been instrumental in getting people with dementia together to produce a series of pamphlets called By Us For Us (“at first they said you can’t put eight people with dementia in a room together and get this done”), offering tips on how to get the best out of life. A recent pamphlet, Living and Celebrating Life Through Leisure, suggests readers “see the world through the eyes of your grandchildren and the young people in your life as they have unconditional acceptance,” play Nintendo and Wii, and “DVD your favourite TV shows or news and watch them several times to follow the story line.”
I loved talking to Ms. Hounam. We both laughed when I said, “You’ve had this disease for 11 years,” and she paused and said, “Have I?” Her disease has definitely progressed, she said, but “I always seem to find something to keep me going.” Without that sense of purpose, “you get drawn into this disease very quickly.”
I also spoke to Mary McKinlay, 66, who is from Napanee, Ont., was diagnosed five years ago, and writes a blog – My New Adventure ~ Alzheimers (alzheimer-journey.blogspot.com). A recent entry which began “Sometimes I really hate being me!” detailed her misadventures with what she thought was a rice cooker but turned out to be a small crock pot. (Her husband Jim is now going to put a sign on the crock pot saying “no rice.”)
Last year, even though she was terrified, she delivered the keynote at a Kingston forum and said, “I got a standing ovation.” And this weekend, she’s actually looking forward to being a featured speaker: “This disease has taken away my fear – it’s great!”
I normally get suspicious of any attempt to prettify a disease, like the upbeat pink ribbonizing of breast cancer, to the point that some women write they are “grateful” they got the disease. So when A Changing Melody’s organizer, Sherry Dupuis, director of the Murray Alzheimer Research and Education Program at the University of Waterloo, pointed out to me that most of the media “perpetuates a tragedy discourse” about Alzheimer’s, I pushed back – what, you want us to say it isn’t a terrible disease?
But she held her ground: “There is an alternative discourse, one of hope. We try to show this isn’t just about challenge and loss. There’s also the feeling that “I’ve grown because of this. I'm an evolving person. I have the right to be treated as a valuable citizen.”
Most of the attendees, who come with family members and caregivers, are in the early stages of the disease and even though they find the day – from 10 to 3 p.m. – overwhelming, they come away inspired, reassured and even entertained.
Something about these two women lifted my soul: I suppose because, as a writer, I am aware of what effort it takes, even in a so-called healthy mind, to string words together to form a narrative, to tell your story in a way that is convincing and powerful enough so others will connect, let alone benefit.
Ms. McKinlay says she will talk about every aspect of her life, and the changes she and Jim have made to accommodate her disease. For instance, they used to love bicycling but when it became too much for her, her husband got a tandem bicycle so “I could sit back and enjoy the ride.” They’ve stopped even that now, but, she says, “I’ve discovered each day is a joy. You have to laugh at yourself.”
She then offered advice that's good for everyone who is getting older, never mind whether they have Alzheimer’s: “Just make everything work as long as you can.”

Published on Thursday, Mar. 24, 2011 2:45PM EDT

A day in the life of......

Sometimes I really hate being me!  I decided to cook some rice for supper tonight.  I got out the rice cooker and measured out the water and rice then plugged it in.  Twenty minutes later I went to check on its progress, and the pot was barely warm.  I searched on the internet to see if I could find how long these rice cookers take.  Then a light went off in my head....wait....was that the rice cooker, or was it a small crock pot I also keep in the bottom cupboard? Yep....slow cooker!!!  I should have realized my error when I didn't see the measuring cup and instruction book that I keep inside the rice cooker, you would think eh?  Jim says we could label them .... "No Rice" on the crock pot, and "Not Slow" on the rice cooker! 

Changing Melody Forum

I'm into the last week before the Changing Melody Forum in Toronto.  Besides the CBC interview, I've also done a phone interview for the Toronto Star, and Monday do another interview with the Globe and Mail.  Maybe I should double up on the vinpocetine to make sure I don't have any brain glitches this week!

No Changes

I can't say I've noticed any improvements with vinpocetine as yet.  It certainly didn't make any difference at our son's birthday party.  The activities and noise really got to me after a couple of hours.  I'll keep taking them in case it just takes a wee while longer to sort out the mess in my head. 

Day Four/Five/Six of Vinpocetine

Well on Day Four I made it through a 3 hour interview for a documentary for CBC  with hardly a brain glitch at all.  Day Five we travelled to Ottawa to help Jim's Mom celebrate her 87th birthday, and then spent the evening playing Canasta with my siblings and their spouses with no problems.  Today was a day of traveling on snow and ice covered highways to get home again, and I managed to keep it together just fine.  Mind you I had my eyes closed a good deal of the way!   So far I'm thinking vinpocetine may indeed be helping to keep things less scattered in my head.  I will definitely keep on taking it, and keep you posted.   

Day Three of Vinpocetine

I guess two days of vinpocetine is not doing the trick.  We went to Walmart and bought a few things, and left our shopping behind at the check-out counter.  It was nearly an hour later after some more shopping that I was thinking about our Walmart purchases and realized the bag was no where to be seen.  We were thinking how nice it is that we live in a small town, and going back to Walmart was only a five minute detour on our way home!  So far there is no improvement that I can see....but we're in the early days yet!

Day Two of Vinpocetine

I was awake for awhile during the night and I was sure my frontal lobes felt like they were filling with blood!  I probably have an overactive imagination, but it sure did feel like that!  I asked Jim if he had noticed any difference, and he replied that no, he was a stupid as ever!  I asked if I could quote him on that and he said that he would probably forget he'd said it was OK! tee hee

Day One of Vinpocetine

After visiting all the local pharmacies yesterday we had no luck finding vinpocetine.  This morning I started searching via phone to Belleville and Kingston and finally found one single bottle at the Green Door vitamin store in Kingston.  15 mg capsules...90 in a bottle for $27.99.  So Jim and I each took one with our Chinese buffet, and will take a second one with our dinner tonight.  The Nutrition House in Kingston phoned me back to say they could order them in and the price should be around $12 for a bottle of 90 of the 15 mg capsules.  I wonder if they are cheaper by the case lot.....I could start selling them to all my friends and relatives with foggy brains!

Vinpocetine Fights Dementia

If you’re suffering from a fuzzy brain, you may want to know about vinpocetine. This semi-synthetic substance is a derivative of vincamine, an alkaloid of the periwinkle plant. It has been used in Europe, Japan and Mexico for the treatment of cerebrovascular and cognitive disorders. Here in the US, vinpocetine is a dietary supplement that is sometimes called a nootropic, meaning cognition enhancer.

Vinpocetine has been widely used in the treatment of different blood-brain (known as cerebrovascular) diseases and dementias. The chronic decrease of blood flow to the brain plays an important role in the development of certain types of dementia. As the consequence of complex set of actions, vinpocetine has been found to play a significant role in improving these conditions.

What’s new: Recently, Hungarian researchers found that vinpocetine may help improve cognitive functioning. They set out to investigate the characteristics of blood flow in those with mild cognitive impairment. Then they examined those patterns and cognitive functions while the subjects took vinpocetine for 12 weeks. Using psychometric tests, they found a significant improvement of cognitive functions after the 12-week vinpocetine therapy. In addition, the general condition of patients improved significantly according to both the investigator’s and the patients’ opinion. The researchers concluded that the vinpocetine improved the reserve capacity of the cerebellum and the blood vessels that supply it and that it favorably influenced the cognitive status and general condition of patients with chronic decrease of blood flow through their brains. As a result, they recommended the use of vinpocetine for the treatment of mild cognitive impairment.  What this means: This study adds to the scientific evidence that vinpocetine may increase brain blood flow and metabolism, and work as a cognition enhancer, neuroprotectant and antioxidant. Previous studies have been small-scale clinical trials that use that use PET scans and verify that vinopocetine, when taken orally, does pass through the blood-brain barrier and increases blood flow to the brain.  This definitely sounds like something I wish to try!

Still Here, I think

Life is certainly rolling on by.  Winter is just about gone, and we're happily looking forward to spring.  I'm keeping very busy at our apartment.  We're doing some spring cleaning now in our common room and organizing the cupboards.  I find between my brain games and the apartment activities I don't have much spare brain power to write in my journal.  I can only spend about half an hour at a time in the common room before the various conversations around me just become a blur, and I know its time for a quick brain break.  It took me fifteen minutes of resetting my password to get in here this time, so I must do it more often before I forget how to do it again!

Relax your brain

My friend Marcus just posted this on another website.

Do you have a couple of minutes to spare? If so, here's something productive you can do with that time: nothing.

A young student and website developer named Alex Tew has created a site called "do nothing for 2 minutes" (donothingfor2minutes.com). The site opens on a view of a sunset over the ocean and the gentle sound of waves.
...
When you arrive at the site, a counter starts counting backwards from two minutes to zero. That may not sound challenging, but if you touch your mouse or keyboard before two minutes pass, this message pops up: FAIL.

I guess even relaxation has its pressures!

Alex told the website Tech Crunch: "There is evidence that our brains are being re-wired by the internet, because we get a little dopamine kick every time we check our e-mail or Twitter or Facebook and there's a new update. So we're all developing a bit of ADD."

I'm not sure that visiting donothingfor2minutes.com will actually help lengthen your attention span, but it is relaxing if you can avoid the FAIL notice.

To Your Good Health,

Relax Your Brain

Great new website

I was invited to join a facebook group called Memory People.  This is a group for people with dementia, family and caregivers.  You need to email Rich Phelps who started the group for permission to join.  His email address is:  phelps2645@gmail.com

Rick Phelps is truly amazing. He is an EOAD (Early-Onset Alzheimer Disease) patient but instead of fading away with this disease Rick has done something different, very different.   Rick has decided to make a video a day to show how this disease effects him and help bring EOAD and Alzheimer's awareness and education to people. He is making a daily video on YouTube.  You can access his videos from   Rick's website

Happy New Year

I have a feeling 2011 is going to be an excellent year.  We got off to a good start by actually being awake at the stroke of midnight and welcoming in the New Year.  I like to sleep in until about 9am these days, and sometimes go back for a nap in the afternoon.  That still leaves me plenty of time to enjoy our shopping and apartment activities.  Throw in a few doctor appointments here and there, a Chinese Buffet now and then, and life is pretty full.