Alex Karras
The sad note for today was ‘dementia’. Alex Karras, famous football player, TV and movie actor died today of dementia. He was 77 but has been suffering from this brain disorder for over a dozen years. He was the lead plaintiff in a law suit in U.S. District Court by 3,500 retired football players who accuse the National Football League of not protecting them better from head injuries. Hearing this news I thought of my seventh grade grandson who plays quarterback for his middle school team and has suffered many a sack.
Today I drove my friend who I talked about in yesterday’s posting to a hospital clinic where he had two medical appointments. I dropped him off at the front entrance and he had in his pocket the reminders about the clinic appointments. Later in the afternoon he called and I went to the same spot to pick him up. As we were talking in the car he said that he was late for his 11:45am first appointment. I asked him how that could be when I had dropped him off at the front door of the clinic at 11:30 am. He said after he got in the clinic and got a drink of water he forgot why he was there. He eventually found the reminder note in his pocket and showed it to a clinic worker who directed him to the correct office.
I watched my dad died slowly of dementia. It is hard to imagine how much we rely on our memory from everything to applying the brakes on the car quickly to even how to swallow. My dad had been a physical hard worker all his life. He could repair or make almost anything. Once he built a room in basement using a few measurements and the design in his mind. So for him not able to do simple things like cut the grass was very hard on him.
During my month long lingering illness I have worried about dementia. I do not think I have the early signs of it but nevertheless do worry about. I know I inherit some of my father’s genes, hopefully not the one leading to dementia. But what can I do about it, but wait,see and remember.
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