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Jim the Geek's avatar

I watched my mother draw the clock 15 years ago. She made a passable circle, then crowded the numbers together down the right side and could not figure out what to do with the hands. It took several years before Alzheimer's finally took her. Now, at 75, I can identify with your mother. Each year at the "Are you still alive?" insurance-mandated physical I am asked to draw the clock. Last year I used Roman numerals for the numbers. Next time I may number it in binary, or perhaps draw a digital clock. My wife and I now share an inside joke. Each time one of us forgets something, like where we left the keys, we ask the other "Is it time to draw the clock?" It's a terrible disease that is much harder on love ones than the victim. Alzheimer's induces a serenity, and carries them back in time. About a year before she died, Mom was excited to tell my sister about her boyfriend, and that she thought he was going to ask to marry her. Said boyfriend was my father, and they had been married more than 60 years.

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Glen Thomson's avatar

Lots of connections for me. Short term memory loss is simply maddening. I am experiencing it now through my mother in law and my dad (aged 89 and 91 respectively).

How much of our existence is in our heads (ie memory)?

Answer: almost all.

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