When Dotty Went to Heaven

Dotty was always convinced she could take "care" of herself, and then something changed.

Dorothy DeMarco
95 Years Old

Dorothy Olive DeMarco was born on June 29, 1916. She went to Heaven on May 25, 2012. Today is Dotty's birthday, she would have been 96 years old.

I was convinced for thirty years that Dotty would live to be more than one hundred years old. I did waver on this a bit when Alzheimer's disease came into our lives.

Around 2004, I came to a very different conclusion. I started to believe that Dotty would go to Heaven if and only if she learned the most important lesson of her life.

I can say that with the exception of her brain, Dotty was a "healthy old broad". She told this to everyone that would listen right up until very close to the end.

Continued on the Next Page

Alzheimer’s Genes, The Four Known Alzheimer’s Genes

"Every new Alzheimer’s gene defect we find provides new clues regarding the cause of the disease, and what we need to do to stop the disease..."

Ultimately, the full list of Alzheimer’s genes emerging from the family-based genetic studies of the Alzheimer’s Genome Project and the population based studies of the International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project are getting us closer and closer to someday being able to eradicate Alzheimer’s disease using a strategy of early prediction and early intervention.
-- Dr. Rudolph Tanzi

Read it at the Alzheimer's Reading Room

Omega 3 ‘Fish Oil’ Supplements Do Not Appear to Slow Cognitive, Functional Decline in Alzheimer’s Disease

URL:  http://www.alzheimersreadingroom.com/2010/11/omega-3-fi...

In summary, these results indicate that DHA supplementation (Omega 3) is not useful for the population of individuals with mild to moderate Alzheimer disease....

Original content Bob DeMarco, the Alzheimer's Reading Room

Ten Symptoms of Alzheimer's

Doctors are not good at diagnosing Alzheimer's and neither are spouses or children.....

By Bob DeMarco
The Caregiver

I would like to use the period from Mother's Day through Father's Day to try and spread the word about the symptoms of the early stages of Alzheimer's -- How to Spot Alzheimer's Early.

Most of the Alzheimer's caregivers I know can look back and identify symptoms and behaviors that they now know were early signs of dementia.

One of the things that caregivers learn is that the sooner that Alzheimer's is diagnosed the better the potential outcome. A failure to spot Alzheimer's early can be disastrous.

We have about ten people on this list that were fortunate and were put on the combination of Aricept and Namenda at the time of their diagnosis. All of these persons seem to be functioning quite well.

I am certain that there are exceptions to this experience. Nothing that is currently available as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease is perfect. Sometimes drugs like Aricept and Namenda don't work at all. This does not mean that they shouldn't be investigated and tried.

The World has Ended……The Diagnosis

Our world just ended. That was my first thought on hearing my husband’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.....

By Carol Blackwell

"Dr. Blackwell, the test results are back. You did very poorly on them—not at all what would be expected from someone with your education. You have dementia and it is probably Alzheimer’s, based on your family history. There is no cure for Alzheimer’s.

Is it Alzheimer's or the Thyroid?

Read the complete article at the Alzheimer's Reading Room.

I wish I could shout this from the mountain top: "when Alzheimer's or dementia present themselves get the thyroid checked".