Dear Diary - Blogs 4

1. Blog about a subject or topic that’s important to you.

I am a very opinionated person, so THIS is a giant thing for your to ask, Mibba Diary people, but let’s see if I can swing only talking about one thing.

Right now, the MOST important thing in my world, I suppose, is mental illness. My grandfather is going through some stuff, and we (my family and I) don’t know how to help him. The surgeon who took out his gallbladder told us back in 2008 that he might have Alzheimer’s or possibly Dementia. A few years later, he had some back pain and he went to go get this shot meant to help with his pain (he can only have 3 of these a year, it’s some kind of steroid), that doctor told us he had Alzheimer’s or possibly Dementia…or maybe both. This year we had him tested for both diseases because he had a LOT of back to back episodes, but he passed all the tests; so his general nurse practitioner (because his real doctor died like 4 years ago and he refuses to see anyone else) sent him to a neurologist for further testing. Well, he passed all the A&D tests the specialist gave him except one. He couldn’t remember a set of three words the doctor specifically asked him to remember (and on one instance, he forgot the doctor asked him to remember). He had to go for an MRI that same day, and we get the results back at the end of this month.

This is important to me, not because my grandpa is forgetting things, getting angry, or a little threatening sometimes. This is important to me because whatever is wrong with his brain whether it be Alzheimer’s, Dementia, or both…maybe something entirely different...is taking the man that raised me away.

My ‘real’ father was never in the picture (I literally saw the man about five times in my entire life **I’m almost 25 years old.) and my grandpa was there. He brought me home from the hospital when I was born, he gave my mom and me a place to live, he took me to school and brought me home. This man has been in EVERY aspect of my life. He came to dance recitals, spelling bees, he took me to football games, and I am the only one of his grandchildren’s whose high school graduations he went too. I learned a lot from this man, including my love for classic cars. I even know about engines because of my grandpa. I called him ‘dad’ for a long time in my life (until my cousin decided he didn’t like it and I had to stop.) The man I see when I go home from work is not the same man that used to take me fishing, and I don’t know how I can stop whatever is happening.

And yes, Mibba People, I will write you a blog featuring Alzheimer’s and Dementia later. I still think they’re pretty much the same thing, but I’m open to being wrong.