Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

That's right it's Monday. Wow! Where's the week gone. I did not eat out everyday this weekend, nope not me, I'm a junior Paula Dean and love to cook. I also did not make the entire Saturday a day of beauty (nails, toenails & hair), that would be just too excessive. I most certainly did not buy 4 new scarves this past weekend, knowing that I had a zillion at home. And I most certainly did not did not put a comb in my Dad's casket so that he could have nice hair in heaven (I was constantly messing with his hair, or I should say what hair he had and he hated it). So what did you not do??

Picture of the Day

Blessings,

Magnolia

Urgent Prayer Request!!

Please prayer for a young family The McClenahans, they lost their daughter Cora today.  Cora is now in heaven with Annabelle, Audrey and my sweet Daddy.  Thanks so much.

Education & Alzheimer's

Ye another article that I have found about reducing the risk of Alzheimer's... 

Feb. 2, 2009 -- Having more education reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease but does not slow memory loss once it starts, says a new study.

Reporting in the Feb. 3 issue of Neurology, scientists say they found that education does not appear to protect against how fast people lose memory once forgetfulness begins.

"This is an interesting and important finding because scientists have long debated whether aging and memory loss tend to have a lesser effect on highly educated people," says study author Robert S. Wilson, PhD, with the Alzheimer's Disease Center at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. "While education is associated with the memory's ability to function at a higher level, we found no link between higher education and how fast the memory loses that ability."

He and colleagues tested the thinking skills of 6,500 people from the Chicago area with an average age of 72 and varying levels of education.

The level of education of people in the study ranged from eight or fewer years of school to 16 or more years.

Interviews and tests about memory and thinking functions were given every three years, up to 14 years.

When the study started, people with more education were found to have better memory and thinking skills than those with lesser education.

The results remained the same regardless of other factors related to education, such as job status, race, and the effects of practice with the tests.

Further analysis, however, showed that the "rate of cognitive decline at average or high levels of education was slightly increased" during early years of follow-up study, but then decreased slightly later, compared to people with low levels of education.

"The results suggest that education is robustly associated with level of cognitive function, but not with rate of cognitive decline," they conclude.

I am determined to keep you guys updated on the latest news, reports etc.  Today was a little hard, J and I went to church this morning, this was the first time back since my Dad died.  It was bittersweet to say the least.  I know that I needed to be there but I sometimes I hate hearing "I'm so sorry to hear about your Dad".  I can't help but feel this way and I know it might be wrong, but it is what it is.  Thank goodness we have good friends in our "monster" church that supported us today.  I thought that I was doing good up until the point that J pointed out that in our worship guide, in the announcement section that that was a prayer request for my family and I and the announcement about the death of my Dad.  I quickly turned it over and tried to forget about it for right then.  I have teared up throughout the day, just different things make me a snotty mess.  The one thing that keeps me going is knowing that my Dad has his memory back because Our Lord and Savior has healed him.  Knowing that helps me get through the day.  Thank you Heavenly Father for those thoughts and healing my Dad.

Blessings, 

Magnolia

Coffee, Not Just a Morning Drink

I was again on the net reading the latest research and found this interesting article  (http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/news/20090116/coffee-strong-enough-to-ward-off-dementia).  To make a long article short, it's about how coffee consumption in midlife reduces the risk of dementia in the elderly by quite a significant percentage.  Of course I love to hear this because I am a coffee freak!  Breakfast, lunch and after dinner and I don't mean wheenie coffee either, I mean Starbucks Bold or something comparable that's close at hand.   I inherited this obsession from my Mom (or at least I tell myself this).  She can drink it all day, even when it's cold!  Now I drink it all day long, but I can not drink it cold, I have to draw the line somewhere right???  Well that's my news on AD for the day.  On to something that just makes me smile ....  Harper's Home!!!!  Yeah!!!  What a wonderful time for Kelly & Scott to be able to bring there little Ms. Arkansas home.  Oh, and did you notice that I changed my background, Valentine's day is coming up so why not!

Picture of the day

Prayers & Blessings, 

Magnolia

What Now?

So what now?  We grieve, try to live and make the most of each day the good Lord above has given us.  That's all I know how to do.  We also, do a "boat-load" of research on this awful disease that has claimed the life of my very 1st Valentine.  I have been on the net trying to figure out the best way to use the talents and resources God gave me to combat this killer.  Did you know that Alzheimer's is the nation's 6th largest killer.  Did you also know that scientists really don't know if Alzheimer's is the cause of or the result of what is going on in the brain of a dementia patient.  There are so many little known facts that I want to discuss here and keep everyone updated for starters.  I have a few passions in life and I think that this project is fast becoming one.   I am going try to not let my Dad's death of the is hideous disease be in vain.  So Let's get back to some education.....

Stage 4 as defined by the Alzheimer's Association

• Decreaed knowledge of recent occasions or current events
  
• Impaired ability to perform challenging mental arithmetic -- for example, to count backward from 75 by 7s
  
• Decreased capacity to perform complex tasks, such as planning dinner for guests, paying bills and managing finances
  
• Reduced memory of personal history
  
• The affected individual may seem subdued and withdrawn, especially in socially or mentally challenging situations
  

This stage is very noticeable to friends & family but does vary from patient to patient.  For example, my Dad could remember his time in the Navy when he couldn't remember what he at for breakfast.  And of course depending on the patient's personality before onset, you may or may not notice them being withdrawn or subdued.  My Dad was a quiet sort of man, so if he didn't talk a lot that wasn't abnormal.  I suppose that if I were making an assessment of a patient, I would take his behavior as a whole and not necessarily individual events into account.  So now onto my favorite part.....

Pic of the Day

Blessings & More

So What's the Story?

So let me start at the the semi-beginning.  As you know my Dad was in Stage 7, he had been sleeping quite a bit for sometime, but would always wake up and eat at least a little something before he decided he had enough and tried to throw the rest in the floor.  J & I had seen him at Christmas and he was still in good spirits and tried to call for our dog when we let her up on the porch (what a sweet moment, he absolutely loved our dog), but we noticed that he had lost more weight and he wasn't eating much.  Of course, being the overprotective daughter that I am, I call my Mom everyday after work to check on her and Dad.  She kept giving me the same report, that Dad was about the same.  Well the beginning of last week, she said that he wasn't eating a lot (even less than before) and sleeping more (even more than before).  By Tuesday afternoon, my Mom & sister could hardly wake him for more that a few minutes at a time, Mom said that he had done this before a couple of months earlier and then snapped back.  By Thursday morning with another report of no eating and still non-responsive, I was concerned to say the least, at lunch I called J and told him to put in vacation time from work so that we could go down Friday morning.  But at around 6:45pm that night, after I came home, packed, ate dinner and started a load of laundry, my sister called to tell me that my Dad was gone.  She and my brother-in-law were there with my Mom when he was called home.  As you can imagine I was in a state of shock, I just started throwing things in my luggage (that was already partially packed) and prayed.  J. packed his clothes, we told our neighbors and asked them to look after the kids and hit the road for a 3 hour drive.  When we got to Mom's everyone had gone home and the funeral home had already been to the house to take Dad.  Of course, I being the stoic, rock-type of person, just hugged my Mom & sister and told them that we would get through this together.  You see I'm the type of person that cries, grieves and yells in private, I don't like to get upset in public or around other people at all, that's just the way God made me, thank goodness since my sister was a big pile of balling snot.   She finally went home and I put Mom to bed and stayed awake to make sure she got her rest.  The next day was hectic needless to say, friends, family and the funeral director were all in and out of the house, Mom, my sister and I went out to the funeral home to pick out all the necessary things.  By the time we got back to Mom's there were probably about 50 fried chickens at our house (by the way, there are only 7 people in our immediate family) I'm telling you that every chicken in the county was slaughtered and fried and brought to our house!  Ok, back on task, we decided to have visitation and graveside services all in one day (only shoot yourself in the foot once!) so I put Mom to bed again and waited until she was asleep before I curled up and passed out.  Saturday was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and it was cool (ok maybe a little cold).  We arrived at the funeral home for visitation about 11am so that we could say goodbye (actually see you later) to my Dad in private, it was quite emotional and yes, stoic me cried, quite a bit actually.  At 12 noon, people started to arrive and they didn't stop until after 2pm, we then piled in the limo and headed out to the cemetery for the graveside service.  At this point many of you might ask why no church service, well my Dad was not a very showy person and just a few words by our preacher at the cemetery was just fine with him when Mom asked years ago (when they bought their plots, before Dad was diagnosed).  The service was beautiful, not too long but great, paying tribute to a wonderful, beautiful, kind man, my Daddy.  After that, we just spent time as a family for the next few days.  Before I close out this post I would like to thank some people who have been with us through this journey, my Mom & Dad's Supper Club, their Sunday School Class and their neighbors and Preacher Ted.  I am so grateful that you have been there for my parents, checking on them daily, bringing cookies, soup, etc.  You guys have been more of a family than I could ever ask for in one lifetime.  My God bless you everyday.

Some of Dad's Flowers

Blessings & Love,

Magnolia

Sorry I've Been Away

Sorry I've been away, but my Dad passed away Thursday night at home.  As most of you know from reading my blog he was in stage 7 of Alzheimer's.  All I have to ask is that you prayer for my family.  We've been going through a lot the last several days.  But I know that my Dad is with Our Heavenly Father right now, and that alone gives me peace in knowing that I will see him again.  So in the mean time I'm sure that he'll hunt, fish (can you do that in heaven?) and catch up with friends & family.  Thank you all.

Blessings & Prayers,

Magnolia