The Dreaded Diagnosis

APR and Steve Elliott in Tombstone

Ronald Reagan once called it the long goodby. 

It has begun for my father. 

Today my mother was given the definitive diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease.

There is nothing that can be said.  There is some new medication we are going to try.  In two weeks we will meet with the neurologist to discuss what we can expect.

I feel so sorry for my mother.

She said he had a good day today.  He's been having good days.  She's been keeping him busy.  I think that is terribly important, to keep him busy and involved. 

He can still read, which is a good thing.  I ordered a batch of cowboy books for his birthday next week.  I hope it is not the last time I will get to order books for him.

Last Wednesday night my mother's oldest sister, Donna, went to be with the Lord.  The following evening she and my father were talking to my cousin, Linda, and her father, J-Roy.  On Friday, APR told me how sorry he felt for J-Roy, who just wasn't with it.  He mentioned how bad it must be to be losing one's thought process.

The punch line came in the next sentence when he asked if they were going to stay in the little house where they were, or go on home.

Somehow you must learn to laugh.