Who we are depends greatly on who we’re with. We work hard to maintain the ruse we spin for those around us. But what if you lose control over your persona and the one that surfaces is beyond your control?
EYE-MAX – The New Cinema
Movie quality over the years has improved to the point where the hyperrealism of IMAX and 4k and 48 FPS such as you’d find in an Avatar or Hobbit movie make the scenes less artistic and move immersive. Gone is the motion blur of 24 FPS and Standard Definition television. Lewy Body Dementia turns all […]
The Mask
There are movies and there’s life, but Lewy Body patients can’t always tell the difference. It’s hard to know what they’re thinking and when their face becomes an inscrutable mask it becomes an emotional ordeal for everyone watching.
Let’s Make a Sequel!
The odds of being hit by lightening are 1 in 500,000. The odds of winning the Powerball are 1 in 292,201,338. I oughta buy lottery tickets because I just won the jackpot.
Impossible Choices
I meant to write about Casey Kasem when he passed away, but I knew I needed time to get my thoughts in order. We’re going on 10 months since my father’s death from Lewy Body and nearly 12 months since the onset of his decline. I knew from the moment they described Kasem as having Parkinsons […]
The Body, The Brain, and the Sucker Punch – Introduction
This series attempted to expose a debilitating disease by detailing its effects on my father. Lewy Body Dementia is a rapidly growing diagnosis as professionals discover that many previous Alzheimer’s designations may have been LBD. In the tradition of George Lucas I may edit and update some posts as we learn more. It only makes […]
The Body, The Brain, and the Sucker Punch – Part IX Counting the Countable
Here are some things I learned. Get in front of your disease ASAP. Don’t waste time in the denial phase. Those wasted weeks might be the good ones when you look back. You may not want to admit you or your loved one has this terrible disease, but keeping track of symptoms might prove life […]
The Body, The Brain, and the Sucker Punch Part X – The Wild Geese Are Calling
Stand with me on Man’s old planet, gazing north when sky has darkened; follow down the Dipper’s handle, half again and veering leftward. Do you see it? Can you sense it? Nothing there but cold and darkness. Try again with both eyes covered, try once more with inner vision, hearken now to wild geese honking, […]
The Body, The Brain, and the Sucker Punch Part VIII – The Spin Cycle
My father moved into his last home on a Wednesday morning while my brother and I filled out forms. Filling out forms, a necessary evil no doubt, consumes the greater part of the time you spend in a medical facility I think. Worries over the mark of the beast aside, it’d be nice if we […]
The Body, the Brain, and the Sucker Punch – Part VII Gather Ye Rose Petals
The call went out that my father was dying. His remaining siblings traveled 7 hours to see him. It became a veritable family reunion as we all paraded in and out of his room. My father lay in the bed, eyes closed and lips dry. Intermittently he’d twitch as if in some calamitous dream, arms […]