Antihypertensive Drug Carvedilol May Protect against Alzheimer’s Disease and Promote Healthy Memory

Good news. My husband has been on Carvedilol 12.5 MG twice a day for hypertension.

Alzheimer's Disease: Antihypertensive Drug Carvedilol May Protect against Alzheimer’s Disease and Promote Healthy Memory

He also takes Namenda and Exelon. We changed Exelon from the patch to the pill as we are more consistent about taking pills than putting on patches. However, he does need to take food with his pills or becomes nauseous. We especially noticed the nausea when he switched to the Exelon pill.

Even with our AARP Prescription drug plan, his pills are very expensive.

Caregiver's Fabulous Birthday

We laughed at the birthday card pictured here that my husband gave me and so did the clerk. He turned around to see if the clerk thought his head looked like the model on the card! On the inside were birthday wishes and "you are my main squeeze"! And he wrote that he promised to help with dishes!

My birthday was yesterday and my husband and I set out to celebrate it. Ordinarily I would not post this celebration, but I wanted to post it as a celebration of good times. We both enjoyed the day and I just didn't notice he was  memory-impaired.

First we had brunch at Cracker Barrell where he noticed the surroundings and commended on them. He talked about the man over seven feet tall. I asked "where". He said he would show him to me when he returned to the room. Sure enough--he showed me--no short-term memory with that experience. And he said this memorable quote,

Enjoy life. Swish it around! We are retired!

We went on Channelside, a place in Tampa where I had never been.  There we shopped, shared Mud Pie Mocha ice cream at Cold Stone and went to the movie, "Killer"--plenty of action for him and romantic comedy for me. I left my glasses in the movie--we all forget things!  My husband was very calm when I discovered my loss. He drove back maybe six miles so I could retrieve my glasses. He paitiently waited in the car while I went back to the Cinema. I was expecting a call on my cell phone--Where are you?" But he did not call--excellent short-term memory again!

During time in the restaurants he reminised. I wrote down what he said and thoroughly enjoyed the day. He talked about his father's time in the service and his time in the Coast Guard. When he bought my birthday card pictured here, he even bought himself a Coast Guard cap --said he had always wanted that cap.

There were quite a few birthday greetings for me on Facebook and I will post pictures on his Facebook photos so that he remembers yesterday as I have for other events.

My gifts from others included two books on Alzheimer's that I will review this summer on Plant City Lady. When I opened them I had to hide them from him so he wouldn't see a word like "dementia" on the titles. He doesn't want to be treated like something is wrong with him. Yesterday I hardly noticed anyway!

Quotes on Memory



“We do not remember days, we remember moments. The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten.” ~ Cesare Pavese (The Burning Brand)

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ~Maya Angelou

“You never know when you’re making a memory.”~ Rickie Lee Jones
 
     Jonas says, "But why can't everyone have memories? I think it would seem a little easier if the memories were shared. You and I wouldn't have to bear so much by ourselves, if everyone took a part."
     The Giver sighed. "You're right," he said. "But then everyone would be burdened and pained."  --Lois Lowry (The Giver)

"To live is to remember and to remember is to live." ~ Samuel Butler

“Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.”   ~ From the television show The Wonder Years

"Everybody needs his memories. They keep the wolf of insignificance from the door."  ~ Saul Bellow

"Memory is what tells a man that his wife's birthday was yesterday." ~ Mario Rocco

"Memory is the diary we all carry about with us." ~ Oscar Wilde

"The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared."
~ Lois Lowry (The Giver)

"Sharing tales of those we've lost is how we keep from really losing them." ~ Mitch Albom (For One More Day)

"We’re so caught up in our everyday lives that events of the past, like ancient stars that have burned out, are no longer in orbit around our minds. There are just too many things we have to think about every day, too many new things we have to learn. New styles, new information, new technology, new terminology … But still, no matter how much time passes, no matter what takes place in the interim, there are some things we can never assign to oblivion, memories we can never rub away. They remain with us forever, like a touchstone."   ~ Haruki Murakami (Kafka on the Shore)

"In truth a family is what you make it. It is made strong, not by number of heads counted at the dinner table, but by the rituals you help family members create, by the memories you share, by the commitment of time, caring, and love you show to one another, and by the hopes for the future you have as individuals and as a unit. " ~ Marge Kennedy

“If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered.”~~ Edgar Allan Poe

“We must always have old memories and young hopes.”~~ Houssaye

"God holds all of our memories." ~~  Elizabeth Weber, workshop 10/23/10

Communication 101

"You didn't tell me," he said.


"Yes I did," I softly said and let him go on and on angry.


"You don't make sense."



Communication became hard yesterday. It made me realize again to write things down for my husband. When I talk about things in the future, he says to not bother him with it until that day.

I had to leave the house early yesterday. I left breakfast out for him and of course his morning pills. I called to remind him midday. He hadn't eaten. So I told him midday to eat both halves of his sandwich. I reminded him we were going to pick up my car at Firestone garage and pay/charge that $1100 bill when I came home. By the time I came home in his car I had used all day, all he had eaten was one half of the sandwich and also no breakfast and no morning pills. He wasn't ready to go with me to get my car. He was angry. "You did't tell me." I had told him, but he forgot.

Lord help us in this season.