Deflection

It has been cold and windy today, with it being overcast this morning and clear late tis afternoon. At about 1:00, I went for a walk in the woods and it was 26 degrees with a strong wind, but I was sweating in my down parka. At least I dress warm enough.

I am very lonely, since have been taking care of my grand nephew, Rowen, for the past four days. At eight months, he is totally adorable. He is good natured with a strong curiosity. Although he hardly fusses, he has a good voice. Although he does take a lot of time, I do miss him today and mom does enjoy him. But, regarding the reason that he has been her, his mom became sick on Friday night and ended up in the hospital for two nights. So, as for my part of taking care of our family during her sickness, I have been taking care of Rowen. I feel that we are going to have to have him over here more often.

As far as mom is concern, I feel that she is doing better than when I first got here. She is not living with the fear that she had been living with for the past few years. If I can speculate on what was bothering her, I would state that she felt like she was going to be placed in a nursing home. As with all people, fear becomes a big driving force. It can consume a person’s whole life, and I feel that this was happening to mom.

I have been read about the research going on with dementia. Unlike other parts of the body, dementia research is slow going. Although the drug companies have been looking for a miracle “drug,” they have stop major funding for the drug, despite the mayor public pressure to find a cure, with no one wanting to die of the disease. The research goes on, but it is slow.

Roger

Dementia Research

Over the years, until the last few years, I have received letter after letter from the Mayo Clinic regarding funding Alzheimer’s disease. It was like a hot topic, since no-one wants to go through dementia in the senior years. So, it was easy for the medical field to get funds. But, in 2018, Pfizer pull $150 million in dementia drug development, according to the October issue of Popular Mechanics Magazine. This defiantly does reveal the complexity in the development of a cure for dementia.

As Alzheimer’s set in, the brain is covered with plaque, similar to the plaque that form on people’s teeth, and the brain folds. (Do not have a good enough background to write about the folds.). But, with a brain covered with plaque, as I have seen in photos, and the brain is folded like it should not be, the brain is not functioning like it should. Research will continue in these areas.

Over the past few years, I have had my DNA submitted for analysis and I have read a book on blood type. As the author of the book stated, it almost seems like studding the blood type would be easier to study than the DNA, since the results seems to be the same. As for me, this is true. In considering that I have O positive blood, the DNA result also confirm that dementia may not be an issue for me.

People of Type O blood have more gray matter. Since these type of people where hunter/gathers, their world was in three dimensions. To think about it, a person to think in three dimension to spier pray. Even to remember what to gather fruit from year to year, a person has to remember the place in three dimension. On the other hand, as for the other blood types, they were basically located in communities where the fruits, vegetables, meat were grown locally. (But the community live did not force on meat as the hunter/gathers did at the time.) So, in order to survive, the hunger/gathers required three dimensions thinking. And, to think in three dimensions, it required more gray matter. This can come down to family members, when each person can have different blood type.

I have recently heard that the brain has the consistency of jello. To understand how the brain works, researchers only have a matter of hours after death to conduct an analysis an active brain (to see how it actually works). From my discussions at the Mayo Clinic, a psychiatrist stated to me that doctors can operate on any portion of the body with complete understanding of what they are operating on, except for the the brain. They simply do not know how to operate on the brain with success. This all leads to one fact: it is going to take time to get am understand in of the brain, including Dementia.

Although the article stated that efforts for the drug companies have slowed down to a crawl, the research does continue. Actually, it is the folds in the brain that is taking most of the research. So, maybe the look for drugs got ahead of the research. In other words, it seems like it would be hard to come up with a drug before understanding the disease. But, with the pressure to obtain a cure, the push for a drug does seen to be understanding. As with families with dementia in their ancestry, there has to be great fear, since no one wants this disease. And, as anyone one can see, with the life styles that most people make for themselves through live, this disease take the dignity out of their lives, since they are no long in control of the destination, personal welfare, and personal surroundings.

On November 29, an article came out about a new drug called Lecanemab as a breakthrough for slowing down the destruction of Alzheimer’s. But, by taking a closer look at the article, it is more successful for people that have been just diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. But, from what I am seeing with dementia, it is usually diagnosed some time after the disease has entered the brain (Kind of like the diagnoses of pancreatic cancer). Although this seem to be a break through, it seems like only time will see the results.

I am going to read about the research for dementia, so I will probably have more to write in the future.