What if I Get Alzheimer’s Disease?
08 Jan 2010
Is it possible to suffer a worse tragedy? Lately I’ve had first-hand experience witnessing a friend struck by Alzheimer’s Disease. A frightful malady, it’s progress is as sure as night follows day. My friend has entered a mental state where he no longer knows me. Day after day he stares at blank walls, is incontinent of urine and feces. Since there’s no cure for this disease, which has been labelled the "Grey Tsunami", it has huge implications for both families and our healt0h care system.
Getting older is, of course, dangerous. Every 70 seconds a new case of Alzheimer’s Disease is diagnosed in North America. T0his means that one in 11 seniors will develop this disease. Currently 5.3 Americans and 500,000 Canadians suffer from it and related dementia. Small wonder that Alzheimer’s Disease is the second most feared disease.
So can anything be done to prepare for this grey tsunami? Some say the answer is more institutional beds and increased home help for families.
Others say studies show it’s outmoded thinking to assume there’s no way to combat brain deterioration. For instance, the Alzheimer’s Society suggests promoting a healthier lifestyle. . In effect, researchers claim that the brain has more recuperative powers than currently believed. And that it’s possible, by a combination of physical and mental activity, to improve brain activity.
This makes sense. After all, if muscles need exercise to stay healthy, the brain is no exception. Possibly many people are retiring too early and allowing their brain to retire as well. So anything that challenges the brain such as puzzles, part-time studies, crafts is brain healthy. (Hopefully even writing this column. I’ve always believed that the ideal time to retire is 10 years after you’re dead).
But there’s a problem. My friend was as active physically and mentally as anyone I know. He was an ardent athlete, spoke two languages and devoured the figures of the Wall Street Journal daily. Now he can’t add 2+2 and I doubt that anything could have been done to change this outcome. Once Alzheimer’s strikes it appears the rules of the game are fixed.
What does this mean for our health care system? The cost will be enormous, but the government will have to find the money. A good start would be discontinuation of questionable foreign expenditures, for instance, the millions of dollars given to non-government organizations with questionable purposes. These funds could be used to care for our own citizens suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease.
But what does the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s mean from the outset? As evidenced Looking at my friend it means facing a gradual decline into a life worse than death. Not to mention the huge emotional and physical stress for family members who care for their loved one.
One of Harvard’s most distinguished medical professors once remarked, "The secret of caring for the patient is caring for the patient". But after years of caring for patients he himself developed a devastating illness. Just before he committed suicide he left a note saying, "It’s wrong that society forced me to end my life this way without help".
My family knows that I do not want to end my life brainless and incontinent. Rather, I’d prefer to leave this planet before that happens with the help of "Dignitas" in Switzerland. But like the Harvard professor I too will say, "This freedom of choice should have been possible in my own country".
Unfortunately, even expressing an opinion today about assisted euthanasia for oneself is controversial and hazardous. Many of my readers agree with me. But a vocal minority due to religious, ethical or moral reasons, accuses me of wanting to exterminate the sick, the or fostering death camps. Some write that I should accept God, the saviour. Or ask did this idiot ever go to medical school?
I’m not promoting assisted death to anyone. But in a democratic nation we should be allowed to sign a legal document stating that if we become thoughtless and incontinent we should have this choice. No one should have to purchase a one-way ticket to Zurich.
Do you agree? You can use the e-mail gifford-jones @hotmail.com
