Retirement has done a lot to my memories for things on my schedule. Unless something is very important to me, I seem to be retaining less and less of "trivial" matters. For example, the president of my co-op was going in for surgery. Although I remembered this fact, what she was going in to the hospital for completely slipped out of my mind. As soon as it came up in conversation, the memory was easy to retrieve. Yet, I'm bothered by this age related change in affairs.
In the past, I had a photographic memory. I could read a computer program, and then identify a single one of the hundreds of pages of code where the bug was likely to be found. Today, I can not absorb as much knowledge as I did in my 20's. To make things worse, without a regular routine, I am more likely to forget semi-regularly scheduled events for which I've committed myself. And I have been very embarassed when this has happened.
The other day, I went in for a periodic doctor's appointment, and mentioned that the one thing I am afraid of most is memory loss. My grandmother (on my father's side) had dementia, and my aunt (not a blood relative) suffers from a form of dementia as well. I don't think that my doctor really understands my fears in this area, as I have no one to take care of my affairs when I am unable to do so, as I don't have children who'd have an interest in doing so.
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Today, I read a NY Times article about a family who shared a genetic mutation for Fronto-Temporal Dementia.(FTD). It's sad when one knows that they have a 50/50 chance of losing one's ability to take care of one's self, to lose family because of this ailment, and to be isolated from everything worthwhile in life. Even though this is a genetic disease, many in the family wanted to live in denial. I might have wanted to do the same. But then, who knows?
There are so many moral issues imposed by others in the names of their faiths that get in the way of preventing diseases caused by genetic traits. What if we could isolate sperm and eggs carrying these mutations before conception, and prevent the mutations from being carried on to future generations? Imagine what would happen if Sickle Cell, Tay-Sachs, Hemophilia, and other genetic carried diseases were preventable. Yet, organizations such as the Catholic Church are against "Test Tube Babies". I certainly don't think that Louise Brown would be upset that her parents used IVF to conceive her, although I think there are quite a few priests who would consider her birth an abomination. In the case of the family with the FTD mutation, IVF with implantation of FTD-Free embryos (or aborting the fetuses with the mutation) would eliminate this disease from their blood line. Wouldn't this be more humane than the heartbreak and suffering that will occur when this mutation is passed on to future generations.
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So, I go back to myself....
I don't know what I will do if I am ever given a diagnosis of early stage dementia. But I think I will try to be like the main characters in the movie "The Bucket List" and enjoy as many valuable experiences as I can while able to enjoy them.
