A friend’s wife has been suffering from dementia for a long time. He recently shared the following post:
Robin Williams took his own life because he was diagnosed with Lewy
Body Dementia. Bruce Willis learned that his illness is Frontotemporal
Dementia (FTD) and Lewy Body Dementia. One of the hardest things to
process is the slow change in the one you love. Becoming a completely
different person. Everything changes. Just so you know, it’s called the
long goodbye. Rapidly shrinking brain is how a doctor described it. As the
patient’s brain slowly dies, they change physically and eventually forget
who their loved ones are and become less themselves. Patients can
eventually become bedridden, unable to move and unable to eat or drink or
talk to their loved ones. There will be people who will scroll by this
message because Dementia, Alzheimer or Parkinson’s has not touched
them. They may not know what it’s like to have a loved one who has
fought or is fighting a battle.
In an effort to raise awareness of this cruel disease, I would like to see at
least 5 of my friends put this on their timeline. I’ll settle for at least one.
A Facebook post by Dennis Eamon
It is hard to know what to say about such a cruel disease. But it makes one wonder why we live in a world with so much pain. I suppose the amor fati advocated by the Stoics and Nietzsche might provide some small comfort as a coping mechanism, but it hardly explains why things have to go so wrong. I wish I knew the answer but I realized long ago that I live and die in a world I’ll never truly understand.
Of course on a non-theistic view this affliction is relatively easy to understand. We have bodies formed by a long evolutionary process of random genetic mutations and environmental selection after the fact; our bodies were not designed and are plagued with problems. On a theistic view however it requires almost impossible mental gymnastics to account for the point of such misery. I’ll accept the former view and leave it to science and technology to hopefully find a solution.
Afterword – After this post was written another friend was recently his good friend when he (the friend of the friend) agonizingly drew his last breathe. My friend told me what a terrible end it was to a life that had once had such promise. Recalling the story filled him with irredeemable sadness. No wonder we strive so hard and invent such spurious reasons to explain and justify evil.
Dear Professor Messerly:
I do not characterize dementia disease, so much as decline. If that is unacceptable, sobeit. Everything blows up; breaks down; falls apart or wears out.
Thanks John—This was one of the most difficult things I ever had to help endure–My Dad bravely fought with his Alzheimer’s for 17 years…I helped take care of him. slept in the living room to keep him from walking out the front door…Helped him with his meds and appointments and served as his advocate…. No-one really understood what he was going through…I will forever thank the Medical Professionals who attempted to slow the progression of the disease…Miraculously he never lost awareness that I was his son….Last 6 months in an Assisted living facility on Hospice.
“What was bitter to bear is pleasant to have born ” Seneca
“So you have had to bury someone you have loved, now go find someone to love ” Seneca
“I assure you that a battlefield is not the only place where bravery is displayed; because the Joy that comes to the gods and those who imitate them is unbroken and never ceases” Seneca
thanks for you comments. all the best, JGM
I wonder if there are people who are more prone to emotional and sensory overload?
Our world is chock full of that, which could be part of susceptibility to dementia.