Janet re Intro & Question/ Sennewald

[Guest guest]

Just to add a little bit more. Terry's executive function has diminished

considerably; e.g. her desk is a pile of stuff to be filed - it just

doesn't get done. Years ago she was a sought after secretary. Now, it is

the apathetic way to simply not do many things. Also, her mental

processing abilities are much more easily overloaded than earlier. It

works much better if things are slowed down and made simpler.

All of this goes with the territory.

Let's stay in touch - perhaps at the next get together in the DC area.

Message: 7

Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2001 00:39:15 -0500

Subject: Janet re Intro & Question/ Sennewald (janop@...)

Hi ,

I was really interested to receive your message today because it

connected with some thoughts I had earlier related to one of the symptom

" exceptions " you mentioned - apathy. I realized earlier today that

Gordon had shown no interest this year in the holiday cards we have

already started to receive. He still gets a few cards from WWII buddies

and from people he worked with early in his career as well as from more

current friends and he has always made very sure that we had cards &

notes ready to go out. Today I realized that this year he really doesn't

care. He has shown no interest in our cards and was not very interested

in hearing the note in a card we received yesterday from a former

coworker. As I thought about that I realized that this has been going on

for a while and seems to be increasing. Some of it seems to be involved

with the difficulty he has with decision making. i.e.it's easier to say

" I don't care " or " it doesn't matter " than to suggest a restaurant to go

to or what to order. It is sometime easier if I narrow the choices -

asking if he wants chinese or italian (or two specific places) instead

of just saying " Where shall we go? " Then he may have a preference.

However, the apathy (not related to choices) is also present. There are

still times that he does have specific preferences and some things that

he does enjoy - but there are many others that he just doesn't care

about. For all these years as things became more difficult physically

Gordon kept fighting to keep going. He has always had many interests. I

think he's gotten tired. Also, he was always an avid reader and now has

some eye problems that make reading a chore so when he is at home it

boils down to TV or sleeping. However, that's why I keep pulling him out

whenever possible. Sometime I'm sure he would rather stay home, but

frequently, once we go to a concert or to meet friends or run errands or

whatever, he does really enjoy it. That's why I'm looking for the

wheelchair carrier-so we can keep going.

Gordon also did have real problems with freezing, Increasing the

sinemet relieved most (not all) of that, but that brings other problems.

Always trade-offs.

Janet

Sennewald Charlottesville, Virginia

[Guest guest]

Greetings !

Regarding your note about Terry's 'executive function', all I can say is

" Amen! " . I fight through a fog some days that is truly terrible. The only

cure is to continue to wade through it. Sometimes a nap helps. But some

days I just don't give a ... well, you get the idea.

And the quickest way to overload me is to toss to many calls my way. If I

get too much in too short a time period (for example, two different calls on

the phone, a voice mail light blinking and a couple of people requesting

help online) .. well, the result is very predictable. I will absolutely

need a nap.

But that's the good news. Active power naps do help. Since I work from

home and my hours are very flexible, it works for me.

I guess the key is to recognize that there are before and after differences.

Accept them then adjust and adapt.

Regards,

=jbf=

B. Fisher