A Typical Week with MCI

About a week ago I was contacted by someone from the University of Washington regarding my participation in a study of how people with MCI live their weeks.  The name of the study is “A Typical Week with Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Photo-Elicitation Interview."  Participants were to take five to ten photographs of their activities over a typical week and submit to a one-hour interview regarding the images.  Here's the web site for the study.

I thought this was an interesting idea, so I signed up.  (It helped that I love to take pictures.)  They said they were looking for images that showed how people with MCI learn to cope with their condition.  I thought that my best focus would be on the lifestyle changes that I've made and documented in Beating the Dementia Monster.

I took pictures and selected 10.  They are here.  I explained that the images were intended to highlight the role of physical exercise, Mediterranean diet, social connectivity, organizing daily activities, drug trial participation,  and spiritual coping in the successes that I've experienced in beating (for now, at least) this awful disease.

I was interviewed by the principal investigator this afternoon.  I emphasized the decline I was experiencing in 2015, and told her about how much better I'm doing now.  My hope is that this will be useful to others confronting MCI.

This week I was also approached by someone proposing that I speak to the Washington State Council on Aging during their September in Seatac, Washington.  The person is a member of the council and seems to be able to arrange speakers.  I don't know how serious the suggestion was, but I said that I was willing to do it.