Daily Archives: July 28, 2007

Back in the middle 1960′s, BMW made a little car called an Isetta.  It had one door that opened in front, two wide wheels in the front and two narrow wheels in the back.

My Grandpa’s twin, Grandpa Joe, bought one of these cars, and on the day of my story they drove this car to Bradley University to attend a basketball game.

They drove onto the Bradley campus and parked under a No Parking sign.  About 30 feet down the sidewalk stood a patrolman who looked at Grandpa Joe andGrandpa,  looked at the parking sign, then back to the two of them.  Grandpa Joe and Grandpa opened the door of the Isetta and those two big guys got out, each weighing nearly 300 lbs apiece and as they emerged from the car the patrolman began to walk toward them.

Grandpa and Grandpa Joe ignored him, Grandpa Joe went to the back of the Isetta and Grandpa closed the door, they both reached down to grab a hold of the car and they picked it up, then they walked over about five feet to the parking lot and put it down into an open parking spot.

The cop just stood still, watching them and shook his head.

After all – how would you ticket something like that?

The Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk® is the nation’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer care, support and research. Since 1989, Memory Walk has raised more than $225 million. Held annually in hundreds of communities across the country, this inspiring event calls on volunteers of all ages to become champions in the fight against Alzheimer’s. This year, more than 200,000 participants will be on the move to end Alzheimer’s.

Look for your local memory walk on the Alzheimer’s Association National Website.

Back when grandpa owned his gas stations he made a regular habit out of helping the young men who went to the local college, Eureka College. One young man in particular was part of a family of Iran with close ties to the Shah of Iran, with whom we were allies in the 60′s.

Some 20 years ago, the young man was asked to come back to Eureka College to speak at a graduation ceremony as the keynote speaker. He was so excited about being back that he contacted my grandparents and insisted they attend to hear him speak.

Grandpa was never one to make a big deal where one didn’t need to be made, so he showed up in bib overalls with the intention of listening and then slipping out – as he and grandma did not like crowds.

The young man was standing in the reception line when he spotted my grandparents attempting to sneak out. Much to the chagrin of the president of Eureka College, he broke from the reception lines and made a beeline to my grandparents to say hello and to invite them to the banquet as his guests.

Being in bib overalls, grandpa first went home to change then arrived back to be seated at the banquet in an okay spot that had been thrown together for him and grandma.

That young man, when he saw them being seated, chose to sit with my grandparents at their table rather than with the president of Eureka College. From what my dad tells me, that story is written in a book that young man has since published.

• Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center,
  Washington University, St. Louis, MO
  http://www.adrc.wustl.edu/adrc
• eMedicine.com  http://www.emedicinehealth.com/articles39500-1.asp
• National Library of Medicine  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/alzheimer’sdisease.html
• NIH Senior Health   http://nihseniorhealth.gov/alzheimer’sdisease/toc.html
• Mayo Clinic, http://www.mayo.edu/research/alzheimer’s center
• Northwestern Illinois University School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, http://www.brain.nwu.edu
• Rush-Presbyterian – St. Luke’s Medical Center, Chicago, IL
  Southern Illinois University, Alzheimer’s Research Center, Springfield, IL, http://www.siumed.edu/neuro
• Indiana University School of Medicine Alzheimer’s Research Center, Indianapolis, Indiana
• Alzheimer Research Forum, http://www.alzforum.org/dis/abo/default.asp

Dad tells a story about when he and grandpa went to Las Vegas, NV.  They were both tired and decided to stop and stay the night.  After a meal of prime rib and exhausting each of their $2 roll of nickels (such big rollers they were!) they decided to go to bed around 8:00 p.m.

They fell asleep, then about 10-10:30 they heard bunch of noise from above – thumping and partying and the likes.  Grandpa, being the big fella that he was says “this ain’t gonna work”. So he sat up and pulled his pants on, put his shirt up but didn’t button all the way. Walked upstairs and pounded.

Dad said he heard thump-thump fella open the door. From what he was told, the guys eyes came to mid-chest on grandpa and he slowly panned upward. Grandpa said, “Son, I’m downstairs trying to sleep and you aren’t making it easy. I’d appreciate it if you’d be quiet.”

The guy apologized and they quieted down.  Well these guys were looking to party in Vegas, and around 2:00 a.m. Dad and grandpa heard them stumble back into their room and crash.

Now, having been to bed at 8:00 p.m. the night before, both Dad and grandpa were wide awake at 5:30 a.m. and ready to get on the road.  Grandpa sat up in bed like a buddha, dad says, and scratched his head, looked down and sees his boot.  Size11 1/2 EEE . He reached down, grabbed the boot, flung it up and slammed it against the ceiling. At that time they heard someone upstairs fall out of bed.Then he reached down and grabbed the wastebasket.  He stood up and placed the wastebasket against the ceiling and rattled it. Next thing they heard was thump thump thump of someone running to the bathroom and the sounds of that person getting sick in the toilet.

All this time, grandpa never said a word.

Post 1 and Post 2 here.

The Effects of Caregiving on Women

• Caregiving is hard physical work that increases a women’s chance of injury. One in eight AD family caregivers becomes ill or injured as a direct result of caregiving. One in three use medication for problems related to caregiving.
• More than 50% of caregiving women experience depression, anxiety, exhaustion, and feelings of helplessness.
• Caregiving responsibilities can also endanger women’s economic security. Time away from the job to care for a family member with disability or chronic illness is reflected in lower wages, lower Social Security benefits, and higher health costs.

Women Need Long Term Care

• 75% of all nursing home residents 65 years or older are women. The typical nursing home resident is an 85-year-old woman who enters a nursing home because she lives alone no caregiver is available.
• 80% of the elderly poor are women-unable to pay for long term care or to purchase long term care insurance. The yearly median income of women 65 and over in 1990 was $8,044.

Women have Reason for Hope

• Drug treatments are available from your physician that may temporarily improve symptoms and behaviors related to Alzheimer’s disease.
• Recent studies suggest that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and vitamin E may offer some protection to nerve cells in the brain.

Earlier I told a story about B.D. and the White Stove-Blacking. Well, his days of being teased were not over. It was toward the end of the summer when my grandpa decided to play another practical joke on him.

“B.D.,” grandpa said, “isn’t it about time you changed the air in your tires?”.

Apparently B.D. did question this – but my grandpa simply explained that in the winter time the air in the tires freezes up, and the humidity from the summer combined with the freezing air causes ice balls to form inside of the tires, and that can make your ride a bit bumpy!

Sure enough – grandpa looked out the window in a little bit and there was B.D., next to his car, all four tires flat as he worked on changing the air out.

See Part 1 here.

Women are the Caregivers.

• Women provide the majority of care for those individuals with Alzheimer’s disease.
• 80 % of caregivers are women – usually the wife, daughter or daughter-in-law
• The Average women can expect to spend more time caring for and elderly parent than she spends caring for a child.
• 35% of women caring for the elderly are over 65 and 10% over 75.
• One in five women have a parent living with them and more than 50% of caregivers work outside the home.
• Caregivers, on the average, spend 69 hours per week caring for their loved ones
• 93% of the 1.5 million long termcare workers in the United States are women.

My grandpa owned a few gas stations back in the day. There was a young man that worked for him by the name of B.D. B.D. was not the most intelligent of individuals and my grandpa liked to take advantage of this fact.

One day my grandpa informed B.D. that they were out of White Stove-Blacking. It’s like the regular Stove-Blacking, but instead of making stoves black, it makes them white. (Disclaimer: Please do not Google White Stove-Blacking – it doesn’t exist. Don’t be a B.D.!)

So out B.D. went in search of White Stove-Blacking. My grandpa called ahead to the local hardware store and tipped them off.

“B.D. is coming in for some White Stove-Blacking. Play along,” he told them.

And play along they did. B.D. was sent from store to store until he’d gone through four hardware stores in search of White Stove Blacking. After the last place informed him that there was none in stock he went back to my grandpa… still in the dark. Poor kid – what a day that must have been.

For the I remember contest:

My earliest memory is sitting at the piano in my family’s church.  I must have been about 3-4 years old, because that’s when I first started taking piano lessons.  I remember it being cold, and I remember my mother sitting next to me telling me I needed to practice.

She was right.  It’s now 26 years later and thanks to my parents encouragement I can play Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Brahms and pretty much anything else set in front of me.

Status check on how I am doing:

• I’m okay – a little restless but feeling ready to move on.  Had a bit of a time about an hour ago where I really wanted to nap – but I managed through it!
• About to eat dinner – having Mushroom, Spinach and Artichoke Lasagna.  Mmm Mmm good.
• Still have plenty of fruit and carrots left to snack on – and I’m about to break out the first soda of the day (no caffeine though!).  I’ve done good all day with fruit juice, water and tea.
• I’m rounding up more stories about grandpa from family members.  Don’t think they will want me calling at 3am to get another batch!

In short – I’m having a blast and I hope you are too.  Be sure to click the button and sponsor me if you feel the urge!  I will thank you a lot!

And to end this midway madness post, here’s a video of one of the cutest songs I’ve ever heard.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXS0nEOx_20]