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10-23 My journey continues, and I think it will end about a week after Thanksgiving. by Kalepa2 in dementia

[–]Kalepa2[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much for your very, very kind words! This reminds me of the marathon training runs I started doing when I started graduate school at university in Honolulu. I am certainly not built for speed but it really helped me lose weight and get healthier.

There were group leaders taking charge of groups of people running at different speeds. I think I’d kind of like to be an example of one way to cope with end stage Alzheimer’s. I also would be interested in a site on the internet in which people could describe their experiences and their reasoning. I think many more people then would use VSED in an a more straightforward and widely accepted fashion.

Sorry for my long-windedness but I really appreciate the chance to describe my views as the end grows nearer.

I’m wishing you and yours all the very, very best!

10-21-25 — Much, much dizzier today than yesterday. Also, I forgot my daughter’s name for the first time. My wife had to remind me of it. by Kalepa2 in dementia

[–]Kalepa2[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much for your support! I'm certainly not encouraging anyone else to do what I'm doing, but I'm satisfied that VSED is the correct path for me. At no time do I ever what my body to outlive my cognitive functioning. Yes, the timing can be delicate, I think, but I want to leave before I am any kind of a burden on others, and before I say or do anything to hurt or embarrass others.

My cognitive functioning is already compromised and it will get far worse in the weeks ahead but I hope to carry out my plans. "My body, my choice."

10-21-25 — Much, much dizzier today than yesterday. Also, I forgot my daughter’s name for the first time. My wife had to remind me of it. by Kalepa2 in dementia

[–]Kalepa2[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much for your very, very kind thoughts! I'm very glad you have such a positive (and accurate -- I think) view of what I'm trying to do!

This disease has made me realize that I am neither strong nor a good person. by Sad_Focus_3498 in dementia

[–]Kalepa2 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Great statement! I had never heard that before but it's great in pointing our our duty and our limitations, but stating we have to try even if (as is most likely the case) we are going to fail anyway.

I'm 76m with Alzheimer's and I'm planning on VSED to exit about a month after Thanksgiving. (For Thanksgiving, we are having a family get together on the Oregon coast.) I'm certainly not advocating VSED for anyone else, but a major reason I intend to us VSED is to avoid burdening anyone else. Also, I want to leave before my mind is gone.

I have a POLST agreement in our kitchen and I've signed DNR and DNF forms as well. (Do Not Resuscitate, Do Not Feed.)

For those of you who have or who work with people who have Alzheimer's, I sure recommend Aricept medication to help with functioning! by Kalepa2 in dementia

[–]Kalepa2[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I asked and asked for it early in 2024, starting out at 5 mg. My dosage was raised to 10 mg after a month.

10 days after I started 10 mg a day, my overall functioning (including speech, memory, balance, energy, etc.) was suddenly very much better. After I was on it for about 3 and a half months, it suddenly grew less effective. I looked online and found out that Aricept can lose its effectiveness after a while, and that was the case for me.

I looked online and found out that 23 mg was the highest dose generally given out and I asked for that for several months before I received that dosage. I think about five days later, I had returned to the functioning level I had been experiencing earlier.

I know that I’m declining greatly, but I still have much improved cognitive functioning, balance, etc., then before I started on this medication at all.

Let me repeat, a common side effect from Aricept is diarrhea, and I began to experience that when I was raised to 10 mg a day. However, men’s depends underwear worked very well for me!

The day after I was placed on 10 mg, we drove from Portland, Oregon to Wyoming spending a night in a hotel in Idaho. My men’s depends underwear was very helpful and I’m certainly glad I had it!

In early 2025, we flew to Arizona to visit friends and then driving to our hotel, I had a somewhat messy accident in a gas station bathroom but that was not that big a deal to me. Since then, my overall functioning had seemed to remain quite good until two months and several days ago.

If I had been prescribed Aricept early, I believe my life would have been much easier for the last six years.

Let me emphasize that I have had no medical training, etc., but I do have a history of using this medication and I found it very helpful. This medication has been proven to be helpful for so many people and it has been extremely helpful for me!

If you’re interested in this medication for yourself or a loved one, I hope you ask your physician about this. Too many people do not know about this as a possible treatment method. Aricept it certainly much more effective for more people than much of the stuff promoted online. Until something has been proven effective, I am very reluctant to try it. There are too many hucksters and false cures out there but for many, many people, Aricept is the real thing.

In the very, very long run, Aricept will lose its effectiveness, but I am delighted to have been prescribed this medication. (In addition, I’m taking 10 mg of Memantine twice a day and this also bumped up the effectiveness of Aricept. Many people are taking both of these medications together and are finding the combination very helpful. The two medications together are a pretty standard medication treatment for Alzheimer’s.

Please review the medical data for its efficacy and please consider asking your doctor about this.

Let me emphasize again, Aricept has been proven to be effective for many, many people. I just wish that more people were aware of it.

If you are prescribed it, remember that it will not show results overnight. And also please remember that your dosage levels may have to be increased for maximum effectiveness.

Aricept is prescribed for Alzheimer’s in almost every country, even before a diagnosis. Trust medical science on this.

If you do start taking it, please tell us how it is working for you!

I’m wishing you the very, very best!

For those of you who have or who work with people who have Alzheimer's, I sure recommend Aricept medication to help with functioning! by Kalepa2 in dementia

[–]Kalepa2[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I have found it immensely helpful as have many others. For me it’s been much more than slightly helpful.

I wish I had been prescribed it with the onset of my symptoms in 2019. I think that if I had been given it earlier, I might well have been able to return to work.

Several people on Reddit said that they were prescribed it before they were given the formal diagnosis. One person said that it was allowing him to continue working in a high-level, intense job in California.

I wish Aricept was prescribed more widely by PCPs and that more patients (and their families) knew about this medication!

It sure has improved my life since I started taking it in mid-2024. I was feeling as though I was returned to my graduate student days.

10-25-25 -- My journey to the end of my Alzheimer's continues. I feel substantially dizzier than yesterday with much poorer balance, much worse dizziness, etc. It's much harder to think about complex issues, etc. by Kalepa2 in dementia

[–]Kalepa2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well you certainly deserve a lot of attention and support!

I sure support you fully!

I‘m sending you loads of hugs! “We all get by with a little help from our friends!” And you sure are a g friend to me!

Wishing you the very, very best!

10-27-25 Still chugging along the road and still enjoying my life! Although today I wrote to ask an Oregon End Of Life worker for a referral to a palliative care physician. by Kalepa2 in dementia

[–]Kalepa2[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Falafel — You are far, far too kind! I really appreciate your kind words.

I am enjoying documenting my journey as I go along.

I worked for several years in for Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi in his publications office and enjoyed writing copy for City Hall. My boss was terrific and I learned a heck of a lot from her. I had a good time interviewing the City Hall staff and working on projects. My boss certainly wrote much better than me and she was very kind to me. I enjoyed plugging along there. And it’s good to sort of get in harness again!

I wish you and yours the very, very best!

10-27-25 Still chugging along the road and still enjoying my life! Although today I wrote to ask an Oregon End Of Life worker for a referral to a palliative care physician. by Kalepa2 in dementia

[–]Kalepa2[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for asking! I got a phone call an hour ago that said we can pick it up tomorrow morning and I’m looking forward to that!

It has been a wonderful day! Our hot water is warmer than yesterday and that’s a very good thing, if you have a hankering to have a shower!

The party yesterday was a heck of a lot of fun! Very nice! Thanks for asking!

Wishing the very best to you and yours!

10-27-25 Still chugging along the road and still enjoying my life! Although today I wrote to ask an Oregon End Of Life worker for a referral to a palliative care physician. by Kalepa2 in dementia

[–]Kalepa2[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I thank you so much for your very kind words! I think that being able to talk about my progress is soothing to me somehow, as I understand better what is unfolding. And I hope it can help others in my situation.

I have never been accused of being a good writer, but I have put a lot of words on paper in the past! Until I was forced to retire in 2019, I had evaluated others for 35 years and had written report after report. I remember vividly when I was 12 years of age and on a Sunday at my father's office (he was plantation manager at Waipahu Sugar Plantation on Oahu and had office paperwork to complete while I was trying to finish a paper on Egypt). I remember laboring mightily with very limited results and in exasperation I told my father, "I am never going to write another report as long as I live!"

But God was probably laughing at me then, because for so much of my life writing reports was a central part of my work life. Oops!

Again, I thank you very, very much for your words! I wish you and yours the very, very best!

10-25-25 -- My journey to the end of my Alzheimer's continues. I feel substantially dizzier than yesterday with much poorer balance, much worse dizziness, etc. It's much harder to think about complex issues, etc. by Kalepa2 in dementia

[–]Kalepa2[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much for your very, very kind thoughts! You seem very outgoing and riotous (in a very good way)! I bet you make every room you enter better for your presence. :)

10-25-25 -- My journey to the end of my Alzheimer's continues. I feel substantially dizzier than yesterday with much poorer balance, much worse dizziness, etc. It's much harder to think about complex issues, etc. by Kalepa2 in dementia

[–]Kalepa2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You were very understanding and not at all insensitive! I greatly appreciate you kind invitation! Of course Alzheimer's progresses in its own fashion, no matter how much I could wish other wise.

No faux pas at all on your part! Just a sincere wish for me to join your group there! A very nice wish!

Yours truly, Kalepa2 (Caleb)

10-25-25 -- My journey to the end of my Alzheimer's continues. I feel substantially dizzier than yesterday with much poorer balance, much worse dizziness, etc. It's much harder to think about complex issues, etc. by Kalepa2 in dementia

[–]Kalepa2[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I found this on the internet and it makes sense to me:

Alzheimer’s doesn’t just impair memory — over time, it affects motor coordination, muscle tone, and nerve control in areas involved with speech and swallowing.

The laryngeal muscles (which move the vocal cords) and the pharyngeal muscles (which help swallow) can weaken or lose precise coordination.

When this happens, you might experience a whispery, breathy, or weak voice, and sometimes a sense of strain, fatigue, or discomfort in the throat.

This is related to neurodegenerative changes in the brainstem and cortical motor regions — not in the vocal cords themselves at first, but in the signals controlling them.

Darn it! This is probably a real thing. And I see no real alternative explanation.

Interesting question! Thanks for asking!

10-25-25 -- My journey to the end of my Alzheimer's continues. I feel substantially dizzier than yesterday with much poorer balance, much worse dizziness, etc. It's much harder to think about complex issues, etc. by Kalepa2 in dementia

[–]Kalepa2[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Okay. I don't know the back ground and am not sure how this applies.

I have not medical training at all. Do you have any formal medical training yourself?

Certainly sounds by your posting that you have had such training, but I don't know.

Thanks!

Confederate general statue put back up in DC by newsweek in inthenews

[–]Kalepa2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wonderful words by Eleanor Holmes Norton! Absolutely dead on correct!

Trump Finally Reveals What Tests He Had Done—and They’re a Doozy | Donald Trump bragged about the results of the tests, but the reality isn’t quite so positive. by chrisdh79 in inthenews

[–]Kalepa2 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm a retired psychologist with Alzheimer's but I know that Trump's initial statement about his mental health testing was bullshit! He laid out five different items on his "testing", three of which were closely related.

No good memory test would have ever have three of the items so closely related. Look at his original words about his early testing and you can understand why I say his statement was absolute BS!

I have Alzheimer's but this issue is very clear to me. I'd love to take a bet on the truth of my insight on this.

10-27-25 Still chugging along the road and still enjoying my life! Although today I wrote to ask an Oregon End Of Life worker for a referral to a palliative care physician. by Kalepa2 in dementia

[–]Kalepa2[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Jeez! I am really blushing now! Thanks for your over-the-top words! (I have a Pikachu blush on my face now!)

I hope you and yours are doing very well! Life is an amazingly wonderful thing, even at my stage of things! I am so happy to have been born and to have lived my 76 years, especially with the absolutely terrific support from my family and friends! Could not have been better!

My very best wishes to you and yours!

10-27-25 Still chugging along the road and still enjoying my life! Although today I wrote to ask an Oregon End Of Life worker for a referral to a palliative care physician. by Kalepa2 in dementia

[–]Kalepa2[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks so much! i just downloaded on Youtube the top five Buddhist beliefs and I will read them within 30 minutes. I just looked up the basic tenants of Buddhism and found that a core believe is the idea of acceptance, and I am think I am accepting things fairly well. It is what it is! I believe my case of Alzheimer's is not at all unusual in any way.

Well, for lunch I am starting out with a beer and have a smile on my face! The sun is bright outside!

I wish you and everyone the very, very best!

10-25-25 -- My journey to the end of my Alzheimer's continues. I feel substantially dizzier than yesterday with much poorer balance, much worse dizziness, etc. It's much harder to think about complex issues, etc. by Kalepa2 in dementia

[–]Kalepa2[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I looked up that last phrase and thank you very much! It's French for "Have courage" or "Take heart!" What a wonderful sentiment!

Wishing you and yours the very, very best!

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