Mild Cognitive Decline

For the first time last summer, ‘that word’ unexpectedly crept into my vocabulary. It wasn’t my idea or choice. It was just there, interspersed between your average milk-toast conversations and a few more deeply personal exchanges. At the time, my companion-in-conversation just let it slip that he was facing some memory issues. It wasn’t presented in a dramatic or emotional gesture but rather a more matter-of-fact state of being. This wasn’t the first friend to mention their new cognitive challenge last summer. In fact, it was a total of three friends/acquaintances who shared their diagnosis with me.

We never got into specifics. I guess they didn’t want to go further in their explanation and I was still taken back by their comments. So we settled for ‘mild cognitive decline’ as a safe moniker  and let it go at that. Of course, my mind was still abuzz with the need for further explanations that were never forth-coming.

I guess I shouldn’t have been shocked at my friend’s confession. When I consider the age of many of my friends, family, associates, acquaintances and occasional comrades-in-coffee, it is, unfortunately, a sign of the times. This terrible disease that has been around since the first caveman didn’t return to his cave and got lost in the wilderness.

It’s a word that strikes terror into the hearts of baby boomers worldwide. The disease comes wrapped in different handles like dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and other memory loss conditions; all incurable. An AARP web page explained it this way:

‘The terms “dementia” and “Alzheimer’s” have been around for more than a century, which means people have likely been mixing them up for that long, too. But knowing the difference is important.  In the simplest terms, one is broader than the other. If the two were nesting dolls, Alzheimer’s would fit inside dementia, but not the other way around. While Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia (accounting for an estimated 60 to 80 percent of cases), there are several other types. The second most common form, vascular dementia, has a very different cause — namely, high blood pressure. Other types of dementia include alcohol-related dementia, Parkinson’s dementia and frontotemporal dementia; each has different causes as well. In addition, certain medical conditions can cause serious memory problems that resemble dementia.’

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a deficit in memory, but generally other cognitive features such as language, judgment, and reasoning are intact. I made this condition a key element in my latest suspense mystery novel ‘Playground for the Devil.’ My heroine’s father is afflicted by it and his memory is key to unraveling the mystery of Henry Miller’s ‘lost’ writings in the book.

In the storyline, his condition was called ‘Lewy Body disease.’ Lewy body dementia (LBD) is a degenerative condition with many similarities to Alzheimer's disease, but it takes hold much more quickly. Dementia develops as nerve cells die or deteriorate, and doctors do not yet know what causes it. There is no cure for LBD, but medication can help moderate some of the symptoms. Lewy body dementia is difficult to identify, but a combination of symptoms can assist doctors in their diagnosis.

The trick is to recognize the clues that can be all around us if we’re cognizant of their signs. But even that can be a challenge. Sharon has an uncle who is going on one hundred and two. For the most part, he is still as sharp as a tack. His memories of going to the one-room school house on his parent’s hay wagon are as clear today as when he was a child.

Other people I’ve encountered seem to have either ‘senior moments’ more often or are more easily distracted. I can’t really tell if there’s an issue with their recall or not. At times, they seem totally in control of their memory, have a good grasp of present-day events and their own current affairs. Other times, I feel as if I’m talking to someone totally different.

I certainly understand that, as we age, holding on to our memory is an increasingly difficult. This is one of the obstacles facing older actors who have to memorize their lines for a play. I personally have watched older actors struggled to memorize the lines I’ve written for my plays.

Like many others my age, I don’t have an answer to this perplexing question. Am I just being forgetful, perhaps not paying attention (my wife would vote for that option any day) or is the gray matter in my head starting to calcify and grow unresponsive?

I’ve long been a note-taker and a list-maker. While I pride myself on a sometimes good memory, I won’t hesitate to take whatever steps necessary to help me remember… anything. It’s all part of the aging process but as long as I can I want to move forward and keep doing and being and living.