Fierce Courage

It was about a year ago that I heard that legendary women's basketball coach Pat Summitt had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's Disease.  I was stunned.  Not that she had the disease, but that it had been diagnosed at such an early age - 59.  Yes, better to be diagnosed early, and to have a good support system.  But how "bad" had the symptoms been to result in what must have been a series of appointments?  I can't imagine the fear or dread the family had to go through BEFORE a diagnosis that left little room for hope.

Ah, but I made the same mistake so many of Pat's basketball opponents made early on.  I underestimated her and her team.

You see, there is a huge difference between little room for hope and no hope.  Pat knows that.  In typical Pat fashion, she grabbed hold of that diagnosis, researched the heck out of it, and started searching for its weaknesses.  AND she continued to coach for her final season.

A message from Pat

Once I got past the shock and "unfairness" of Pat's diagnosis (as if it would be fair for anyone to have the disease??), I truly admired the spirit that made her the amazing coach for 38 years at the University of Tennessee, and which had her fighting back against Alzheimer's.  Pat and her son Tyler established the Pat Summit Foundation to raise funds for Alzheimer's research and education.  One of their items available in their on-line store was a pack of rubber wristbands in orange and purple with "FIERCE COURAGE" in purple print on the orange section and Pat's signature in orange on the purple section.  Purple is the color of Alzheimer's Awareness, and Orange is the University of Tennessee color.

Since Mom had already been diagnosed with dementia (although not Alzheimer's at this point), I found all of this a little more than disturbing.  And yet, I realized the truth of Fierce Courage being necessary to live with and/or fight Alzheimer's.  I ordered a pack of the wristbands, and gave Mom several of them to share with her friends at Friendship Village.  I have not taken mine off since I received the package.

I have also been educating myself on dementia/Alzheimer's.  The Alzheimer's Association is wonderful for providing information and support for caregivers.  I could go on and on with things I learned in a 4 week series they put on (first and foremost, get the power of attorney/medical power of attorney in place BEFORE there is an emergency; see a lawyer who specializes in elder law).  Alzheimer's is just one of the forms of dementia, but it is fatal.  Eerily, the longer one lives, the higher the probability of developing Alzheimer's.  YIKES.

I also stepped up (pun sort of intended here) and participated in the 2012 Walk to End Alzheimer's.  This is the first time I'd done the fundraising/walking thing and I was a little intimidated by it.  Thankfully I have wonderful friends who supported my efforts, and Mom has wonderful friends who donated to honor her.  I was thrilled when I started with a $300 goal and had 75% of it in just a few days; of course I had to increase my goal to $500.  I wasn't sure I was going to make that one, but I did!  As of today, I've officially raised $615 (although it's really $715 since one of the donors donated to the team, not through my fundraising link).  Because of all of the supportive people, I was able to get 2 t-shirts AND made it to the Champions Club (and received a medal!!).

These are just a few of the images from the walk on the 22nd.  That's Mom with the walker and her Friendship Village backpack (we probably did the 1 mile walk with all of the meandering we did).  We were more interested in checking out the buildings since our time at the park was limited.  Carillon Park is a very nice historical park, but usually there's a fee to go through it; since the walk was at the Park, they opened the majority of the exhibits for the walkers.

These flowers are more like pinwheels, and I wish I could remember what all of the different colors represented.  The blue indicates a person with dementia, purple indicates someone lost to Alzheimer's, and orange indicates a caregiver for someone with dementia.  You could write a message on the petals with a silver Sharpie if you wanted; Mom and I brought ours home.  I'll be putting mine out in the front yard, hopefully bringing a little more awareness for Alzheimer's.

Mom had been doing so well that I was pretty surprised this Wednesday when one of the nurses from Friendship Village gave me a call; that only happens when there's a problem, so I was immediately on high alert.  Mom had another TIA (transient ischemic attack, or mini-stroke) and was having trouble communicating.  At the time there was no way to know if it was a TIA or the onset of a full-blown stroke, so we erred on the side of caution and called to have Mom transported to the hospital.  After 3 hours in the ER, bloodwork, EKG, and CT scan all came back normal, and Mom had pretty much returned to normal.  She was back in her apartment before her bedtime, which I know had to make her feel better.

In our case, a TIA is probably the best diagnosis for what Mom went through.  TIAs typically don't leave lasting effects (although there is a type of dementia that exists when the same area is consistently the site of the mini-stroke) and resolves itself pretty quickly.  It is still a bit scary.  Mom was anxious and upset when she couldn't get the words out or find the right words.  Anxiety tends to exacerbate the symptoms.  So, I spent a little bit of time trying to make Mom laugh and relax.  Shortly before she was discharged, she asked me how they diagnose dehydration; I said that I didn't think there was a single test, but a combination of pieces of information and responses to questions.  Then I asked her if she thought that was what was going on, and she said that she thought it might have been a "contributing factor."  I knew at that point that she was doing much better because she had no trouble at all coming up with the phrase.

Fierce courage.  Patients with dementia definitely need it, but so do the caretakers.  Make no mistake, dealing with dementia and Alzheimer's is a war; some days you win the battle and some days you lose ground.  But with fierce courage, Mom and I together can give this insidious disease a run for its money.  I'm holding onto that with both hands in a death grip.

Alpaca Photo Shoot!

Y'all know by now that I really enjoy new photographic experiences.  I love pitting myself against the challenge of not knowing much about the subject(s) and trying to get good pictures in new circumstances.  Sounds like a recipe for disaster, but actually, the more pictures I take, the easier the new opportunities are . . . I'm like a kid in a candy shop when I get those opportunities.

I have friends who have started an Alpaca farm, Purdy Lil' Suri Alpaca Farm, LLC here in our little 38k populated city in SW Ohio.  I posted pics from when they had the barn raising (one of my favoritest [and I use that improper word intentionally; it's a photo that speaks directly to my heart, probably one of a handful of photos that I am THAT happy with the outcome] shots came from that day.  I talked about it on one of my first blog posts, Are You Handy?  Well, these friends asked me to do some dog/alpaca/house sitting for them while they went to an out of town wedding.  I would have done it just to spend time with Ginger, their dog.  BUT, to have the opportunity to watch their 4 female alpacas and get pictures of them pushed it into a new adventure!

These are some funky feet!  My sister and niece have feet phobias, so I'm sure they'd run at the sight of this!

Almost every time I went outside, the girls came to the fence.  Unfortunately, only Mary (the youngest) is sociable enough to allow you to pet her.  It was odd because every time we went outside, Ginger went to the fence and Mary would come over so they could touch noses.  They must be BFFs or something!

This is Miss Mary, with her windblown hair.

This is Miss Mary, hoping to be fed or at least get a treat.  Their fur is incredibly soft, but what really amazes me is their mouths.  They have the softest lips ever.  How do I know this?  I got to hand feed them some treats.

I'm not sure if this is Miss Pearl or Miss Autumn, but she was definitely posing for me.  I love her profile . . .

And here she is again, showing off her beautiful eyelashes!

 They do tend to stick fairly close together . . . never put too much distance between them.

Here we are again w/ Miss Mary (closes to the camera) and I believe Miss Pearl.  See how the wind is ruffling their fur?  I also loved the shadows.

Trying to graze, but they've pretty much grazed their pasture as much as possible already.

Their "I'm adorable, please feed me" look . . . the only time they get in the barn is while they're being fed.

This is one of my favorites of the girls all together, lounging around the hay trough.

I loved the hook for the water bucket giving one of the girls a "black eye."  It made me laugh when I saw it full size.  Turned out better than I expected it would.

Miss Mary, hillbilly alpaca!

I'm beginning to think Miss Mary is a comedienne at heart - is she trying to imitate a walrus with that hay??

There's Ginger, the wonder dog.  She's really good with the alpacas.  Most of the time she pretty much ignores them.

Family portrait!

I had a feeling Ginger was reaching her patience limit, so this was when we left the pasture . . . .

Look at that face!  Isn't she adorable?

Walrus/Hillbilly Mary hoping for some treats . . .

And to be out at the Alpaca farm and look up to see the beautiful clouds, sky, and trees . . . I was so glad to be able to help out my friends who were also helping me out as well.

For those of you wondering, alpacas do spit, but not typically at humans . . . I didn't see any spitting all weekend long, either.

Busy, Super Busy, Crash

Hey everyone!  Sorry I've been posting so sporadically lately, but I thought I was busy, then got super busy, then last night and today, I crashed!

I'm not quite finished with all I have going on, but the busiest part is at least over with.  It was a lot of fun, but unfortunately, not as successful as I would have liked.

I shared with you the fun I had with Stress Cop and one of our K9s as part of the build up for National Tell a Police Officer "Thank You!" Day.  That official day was yesterday, September 15th.  Thought I'd share a little of what was done for the officers.

Fox Sports was at one of our Football games, so of course I had to include the Fox Sports Girls.  You know, since most guys are such sports fans.

Two of our ticket sellers in a slower moment during that televised Thursday (!) night game.  The one on the right is Marcy, the illustrious leader of the misfit band of ticket sellers, who has won the vast majority of the "Where in Huber Heights is Stress Cop?" rounds . . . she still hasn't come up with an answer for 2 of them though, and according to the rules I make up on the fly, she can't receive her prize until all rounds are completed . . .

The Wayne High School Alumni Marching Band!  They were kind enough to make the poster and pose for the picture on very short notice.  They were one of the groups who sent me pictures for the event.  The others I won't be posting were of Girl Scout Troops and Wayne High School JV and Varsity Women's Soccer, Men's Soccer, Women's Volleyball, and Football Cheerleaders; they're all minors, so I need to do my part to keep them safe since I didn't have parental permission to post the pics.

One of the most rewarding experiences was the evening I got to spend with the Girl Scouts.  A friend had put me in touch w/ one of the local neighborhood leaders who thought the girls making cards would be a great addition to their plans to make goodies for first responders to honor their service in relation to 9/11.  I got to tell the girls a little bit about what I was doing, and why it was important to me, and then they baked and made cards (in shifts).  Seriously, I cried reading some of their cards.

The pics above are from our Police Department; the shields are on the front doors.  The display is an abbreviated history (mostly relatively current) of the HHPD (formerly Wayne Township PD).  The blue shirt was provided by the family of the first Chief, Isadore Freidman (amazing man, wonderful leader and mentor) and the black shirt is one of the current Chief, Robert Schommer.  The pic of all of the officers was taken either late 60s or early 70s (probably sometime between 1968 and 1972); that's my pops on the far right, standing.

This was what I set up in the Community Room at the Police Department around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday.  The baskets are what PetSmart put together (the ONLY business who donated anything; I will be promoting them like crazy every single chance I get!) for the K9s.  The aluminum trays have Apple Honey Breakfast bars, Black Cherry Jell-o Pinwheels, and some KitKat snack size bars.  Next delivery around 11 a.m. was Apple Toffee Blondie Bars, and the final delivery around 6 p.m. was Fresh Apple Cake (would you believe I had a few apples to be used up??) and Potato Chip Cookies.  I also took 2 cases of bottled water for them (hard to see the edge of them on the far right). The display includes all of the photos above, plus the ones of the sports teams and a group pic of the Girl Scouts, pics of the "Where in Huber Heights is Stress Cop?", a screen print of the event listed on the WDTN Calendar of Events, and other "posters" of support and encouragement.  The Scentsy Warmer is from their Heroes collection, and is a Navy Blue w/ a generic Police Officer badge on it; I had the names of all of the officers printed out, and Dispatch drew the winner of the warmer and a bar of wax this morning - Officer Bradley Reaman.

I'm starting to think about next year's recognition already!  I'll have a better idea of what I'm doing, and am glad to have been able to see some of the ways other communities were saying "Thank You!"  It's a start, so it's only going to get bigger and better from here!

Heartbroken But Hopeful

I was able to go out to a local 9/11 Memorial today; it was dedicated last year on 9/11 and I've driven by it several times.  I made the effort to go out today, and am so glad I did.  I did not however, expect the overwhelming emotion that had me in tears.  The memorial is mostly a piece of steel from the remains of the WTC and a listing of names of those who died that day.  Very simple and yet extremely eloquent.  I'll let my pictures speak to you.