This is Not a Link Roundup

Except, it kind of is. New links on death, dying and dementia

I’m not a weekly link roundup kinda gal, but I’m adding all of these to my Resources list, which may have to wind up with a page/section/segment/whatever the hell the kids are calling it today of it’s own because the list is getting unwieldy too long comprehensive, including media and podcasts, which I normally don’t listen to, but now, look at me, I do.

Alzheimer’s Explained - A short (3:09) , easy to understand, YouTube video from 1440. I finally understand why my parent’s generation didn’t have to deal with parent’s with Alzheimers/dementia. It didn’t even have a name until 1995, when the 1906 findings of Dr. Alzheimer (yes, Virginia, there is a Doctor Alzheimer) were “found,” and finally published and translated. My grandparents were already dead by 1995.

What is Dementia? - Slightly longer (21:16) YouTube video from Teepa Snow. If you’re not familiar with Teepa, and someone in your world is dealing with dementia, get to know her. Teepa knows, and she explains in a way you can understand and implement. Her stated life’s mission is “to shed a positive light on dementia.”

Alzheimer’s drug may save lives through ‘suspended animation’ - a 4 minute read from The Harvard Gazette. And if 4 minutes is too much, if that’s TLDR, in a nutshell: Donepezil, used currently to treat Alzheimer’s may be able to be repurposed to help buy patients critical time to survive devastating injuries and diseases.

This is my favorite of these links: Your Memories Are Like Paintings by Kevin Berger for Nautilus. “Memories are not a true or false picture of the past; they are a Monet lily pond.” That’s a quote from Why We Remember by Charan Ranganath. Much as Sari Botton of Oldster is obsessed with age and aging. I’m obsessed with Memory - how it works and how it doesn’t. I have a memory disorder - and that’s for another time, but I’ve come to accept the generally held belief that memory is unreliable, it changes each time you access it, albeit almost unnoticeably. But that means that those incidents you recall a lot, good or bad, are the ones that are the most changed. I just ordered Ranganath’s book.

“Evolution is to blame for our shaky memories and selves. If we evolved to remember everything, we couldn’t function due to the overload of sensory information…we’d become an easy lunch for a predator. So much for human survival.

“Given the chameleon nature of our memories, changing their colors to suit different environments, do we ever see anything for what it is, remember it for what it was?”

There’s too much here I want to pick apart and talk about. Read Berger’s article or Ranganath’s book and get back to me.

Palliative Care Queensland: The Cassette by Catherine Prowse. PCQ is a hospice that feels how we treat our dying is a measure of our humanity. They commisioned this video “on living the end of your life on your own terms.”

I don’t think I’ll be doing this kind of thing often, but who knows. Let me know if any of this at all helpful.

BONUS LINK: Charan Ranganath’s band, Pavlov’s Dogz doing their version of Wanna Be Your Dog. All of them are neuroscientists.