"Three years into his first term as president, I felt the first shivers of concern that something beyond mellowing was affecting my father......Today we are aware that the changes associated with Alzheimer's can be in evidence years, even decades, before identifiable symptoms arise," Ron Reagan (the son).
When I have read his new book and heard Ron Regan interviewed about his father and his book, I am struck by the "oh, yes." I feel. Looking back I can now recognize many symptoms for several years prior to the actual diagnosis. Symptoms that concerned me, but seemed fleeting. Actually, that was very confusing; the clarity one minute and the confusion the next. It was several years ago that he pulled out directly into the path of another car. He was still working at the time. I was alarmed, but thought it must have just been a moment of inattention. In our case, as I understand it, it was the anesthesia for the complete knee replacement that kicked into high gear the already-present dementia. We now know too that Ronald Reagan's sons are squabbling about this memoir. That too is familiar to me. The family disagreements about if it exists, what should treatment be, etc.
For me it was comforting to read of someone else having concerns before a definite diagnosis and trying to make sense of it, and even that family members may disagree as they come to grips with this experience out of their own perspectives.
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