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"Concentration is coming harder now."

By Ann Althouse

Reading about Charlton Heston this morning, I started thinking about what I would do if I learned I had Alzheimer's disease. One thing is, I would keep blogging. That got me wondering how many people are already blogging with Alzheimer's disease, and how people with Alzheimer's disease are using blogging. Here's an article from Wired in 2002 about blogging with "AD."

"Many people, once they're diagnosed with AD, simply give up on life," said Alice Young, a 75-year-old former psychotherapist who divides her time each year between Florida and Minnesota. "And those are the people who go down more quickly."

But Young and others with AD are blogging to keep their spirits high and their minds sharp.

In her journal, Young mixes frank descriptions of her illness with encouraging words and prayers.

"Concentration is coming harder now," reads one entry from November 2000. "I am constantly misplacing/losing things. I go to the Dr. and I am going to ask for another test to see how much I have lost."

More than one and a half years later, on June 17, 2002, Young has become more philosophical about her AD: "Time is getting shorter for me, and I realize it, so I'm 'going for the gusto' as much as I can," she wrote.

Young said she and others with AD keep journals to "exercise the cognitive powers we have as much as possible."

"But I also think it's important to be realistic about AD," Young said.

AD has no known cure, and there is no proof that blogging, or any other form of cognitive exercise, can stem its progress. But AD bloggers say their journals have greatly improved their quality of life, by helping them to recall tasks completed and milestones passed.

Is Young's blog still there? I think it ends here:

May 28, 2004

Made a decision to to turn my will and my life over to the care of God as I understand God.

got an email from Pete this morning asking if I can come to Hot Springs. I am not sure as I hate driving that long. If I can fly, I will consider it... Luv Alice

Blogging with Alzheimer's, you could look back into your archive and witness the slope of your own decline. Is that something you would want to do? I would.

Full post as published by Althouse on April 06, 2008 (boomark / email).