Hi everyone, just touching base, long but I need you!

[Guest guest]

Hello again. I've been out of the loop lately! Our son chose to move

back home. For those of you who remember me, it's been a terrible

year. My dad passed, Ken, my husband got his diagnosis, my sister

had stage 2 melonoma cancer, his daughter fell and broke both arms

the day her husband asked for a divorce, yada, yada, yada. I know we

all have troubles. Our son who is 21 dropped out of college,

although he has 60 some odd credits he still hasn't chosen a major,

or finished even a two year degree. Long story short all his life

he's had trouble staying on task, doing what he should do, just

flying by the seat of his pants if you will. He asked for help, got

him to the appropriate doctor and he was diagnosed with attention

deficiet. Which basically means he's a bundle of loose ends that

never get connected! Whew!

And I took an outside job, an opportunity with benefits and

insurance, I just couldn't pass up, if I ever hope to get out of the

cleaning business...LOL Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy cleaning,

but my bones and muscles are screaming to quit!

The last we spoke my husbands doctor was " amazed " at his improvement.

Me too, so much so, I wondered....

But that was short lived apparently. He is getting much slower with

his movements, so the doc upped his sinemet from (4) 1/2 pills a day

to three whole pills a day. Tried that for a week, and he just

couldn't tolerat it. Guess it lowered his blood pressure too much.So

we went back to the original dosage and we're back to shaving him

because he's just too weak. And yesterday he had lots of chest pain,

just like before the diagnosis, some GI trouble too. I guess the

saddest part is that his short term memory is now almost non

existent, and this problem developed so rapidly, just in two weeks

time. He gets things mixed up so badly. On 60 minutes II, I

think it was, they were doing a piece on the documents that the FBI

didn't turn over on the Tim Mcveigh bombing, and he thought they were

discussing the ballot controversy here in Florida about the lost

ballots for the presidential election. I finally got him to

understand what the story line was about. It's crazy. He remembers

all about the ballot controversy, and the bombing, but he couldn't

understand the program. It's like he had three pieces of a puzzle

and couldn't figure out where each piece went. He doesn't forget

something ever happend, he just remembers it wrong. The doctor said

it wasn't his medicine causing the memory problems, just the

progression of the disease. He may listen intently to the

conversation I had with the doctor in the morning on the phone, but

by later in the day, he looks at the telephone ID box, and says...I

see the doctor called, what did he have to say?

Can any of you relate to this memory problem? In the beginning he

had so much chest discomfort, and GI discomfort, and couldn't sleep,

and on and on and on, but those things abated, and now one or the

other seems to revisit us now and again. Could this happen with his

memory? Can any of you tell me from your experience if we are at a

point of no return on the memory and the liklihood that his memory

might return too? And yet another question...since the memory went

soooooo fast, is that an indication it will continue to decline

rapidly? I trust you folks. Your experience is worth its weight in

gold, and more informative than the doctor.

Thanks for your time and trouble,

hugs to everyone

Betty