November Is ...

 This morning I flipped the calendar to a new month.  November how did you get here so quickly?  In this month we celebrate birthdays (my dog's 2nd and my son's 17th), eat turkey, and let's be sure to mention a very important election in 4 days.  No matter who is elected, I'm preparing myself for the complaining and protesting from the opposing side.  I'm reminding myself to focus on faith, remembering that God is in control and He has a plan.  November will be a month when I open up my Bible more and pray intentionally and consistently.  

November is also Alzheimer's Awareness month.  I began working at a nursing home my senior year of high school.  That was my first experience of witnessing what Alzheimer's looks like first hand.  I remember walking the hallway of the second floor delivering a cart filled with food for the nurses to give to the residents.  Each wing had a locked door so none of the residents could escape if they left their rooms.  The doors had a small glass window.  I very clearly remember looking over at one of the door's and on the other side was an old woman's face staring in my direction with blankness in her eyes.  That image has been etched in my mind since.  Now here I am, watching as my own mother is battling this cruel disease.  Years before the diagnoses she had a stroke that took away her ability to walk, speak clearly and be on her own.  My father, having been newly retired at the time, was already struggling as a caregiver to her.  Then we noticed she was repeating herself and becoming very forgetful.  When I heard the doctor diagnosed her with the ugly A word I knew it was time to prepare my heart for witnessing the woman who brought me into the world slowly lose herself.  It has been hard.  It has been even harder for my father.  

There is no cure for Alzheimer's and I do not have much hope that we will see one anytime soon, especially with the financial greed from Big Pharma (yeah, I said it).  I do believe that the choices we make in our lifestyle can have a huge impact in avoiding many diseases (yeah, I said that too).  The chemicals in high processed foods have a huge impact on our health and so does lack of exercising.  I'm most certainty not a health nut and am guilty of eating what I shouldn't more often than I should.  So, do not take this as a lecture.  But I do want to take this month to spend more time researching and understanding the disease better than I have before.  I want to take this month to find ways of creating a healthier lifestyle for me and my family.  There are plenty of websites and resources available in helping and I'm ready to dive into as many as I can.  My mother's health decline started with diabetes many, many years ago and I always make sure to get tested every year.  

No one deserves having to live with this disease.  Not you.  Not me.  Not our families.  Certainly not the kind, loving, amazing woman who has been my mother.