What's Happening to Grandpa?

In a discussion, a neuropsychologist once indicated to me that the lifestyle changes I've made could delay progress of my Alzheimer's disease by 10 years.  If so, I have so far consumed almost five of those years.  While every case is different, a delay of 10 years is consistent with published material I've seen.  If I was at the edge of the transition from MCI to Alzheimer's dementia when I was 65, a common trajectory would lead me through a painful decline to death at 75.  While conclusive research to support this projections is still in progress, with the lifestyle changes I've made, a delayed decline to death at 85 is now a reasonable expectation.

So far, we have one granddaughter, little Josephine, age 3.  She has formed a strong attachment to her Grammy, but not yet so much with me.  But she is growing and maturing.  She will undoubtedly come to know me some day as someone who changed dramatically over the course of a few years.  She should probably understand this from the outset of the changes.

In our August 29 post on The Alzheimer's Project, I mentioned Maria Shriver's book What's Happening to Grandpa?  The book is intended to be helpful in explaining dementia to children.  While the time to use it is not yet, I recently bought the book in anticipation of that day.

The book is about a girl named Kate and her experience with her aging grandparents.  In the book's artwork, I would say that Kate appears to be about eight.  Our Josephine is precocious, and I'm inclined to believe that, over time and with guidance, she would learn what she needs from this book.  But the time is not yet.

The book begins with tears and angst over Grandpa's fading understanding about his life and the world.  He is frustrated and angry, while his wife and his daughter are distraught.  The book then goes on to explore Kate's relationship with her grandparents.

I looked for parallels between Kate's family and ours, and I came up a little short.  When they were young, Kate's Grandpa and Grandma lived much bolder lives than Amy and I, although there was one connection.  Grandpa had been a submarine sailor.  I wasn't a submarine sailor, but at least I went out on sea trials.  This was a result of my work as a shipyard test engineer on submarines -- when I was quite a bit younger.

I visit memory care and retirement facilities almost daily, so my future is evident to me.  This book certainly seems to frame its story in a way that would be very helpful to Josephine.  But the time is not yet.