Miller Land | Our Family's Little Blog

You know what’s really scary?

A smart person in the grip of a psychotic episode. I’ve seen it happen to intelligent people in their 30’s and bright kids as young as 8, but in those cases, you know it’s not Alzheimer’s. You don’t have that assurance with older people who develop dementia-like symptoms.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not an easy thing to watch anybody “losing their mind.” With the growing pressures, imperfection, and who-knows-what toxins in our air, food, and water, is it any wonder that according to NIMH (yes, it actually exists) an estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year? One in four, staggering.

A fascinating, but sobering thought – Elderly people with a UTI have been misdiagnosed with senior dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.  This is because a UTI can mimic the symptoms of such conditions. Also, according to Nursing magazine, 30% to 40% of elderly patients with this infection don’t have a  fever, a typical sign of infection.

Because the barrier between the urinary tract and the bloodstream thins out in old age, the bacteria in the urine spreads more easily to the blood stream and causes confusion and other cognitive difficulties as it crosses the blood-brain barrier. Sudden onset of these symptoms may indicate a UTI.

When my mother experienced confusion last year that landed her in the hospital, I had to convince each new set of medical professionals – the EMT’s, the ER personnel, the attending nurses and doctors that she was exhibiting unusual behavior.  It took some doing because even at her worst, she still looked dignified. And that’s all they had to go by since they couldn’t understand what she was saying in Korean.

As soon as they found traces of a UTI, they started her on a regimen of antibiotics. That seemed to do the trick. She slowly regained her mental powers and was eventually back to her feisty old self. Needless to say, it made all of us a little more aware of UTI’s and doing all we can to avoid them.

And to celebrate, let’s give it up for the MUPPETS!

For all you lovebirds short on cash, but rich in love…

Happy Anniversary J&A!

• Short duration (of the flus, the best deal, 24 hours makes a HUGE difference)
• Longer shelf life of food (the sight, the smell, even the thought of food…excuse me)
• Good chance to catch up on your Netflix queue (between trips)
• Trying…trying…Nope, that’s all I got.

Moving across the country is like wedding planning without the fun. Any suggestions?

Please.

Seriously.

My sanity hangs in the balance.

(And for those of you in the know, that was meant metaphorically not literally. Yet.)

It’s official. We’re moving to Ohio. We’re planning for an arrival date of October 31 at the latest.

Sometimes I’m excited. Sometimes sad. Always stressed.

The next month will be – to understate – difficult. Packing, planning, calling, packing, saying goodbyes, packing, packing, selling, packing, driving, driving, driving all the way to Byesville, OH, a little speck of a town with one stoplight. But the area is full of friends and family. It will be good being with them again, getting to know them again.

Lia is excited. She hasn’t realized yet the difference between a move and a vacation. But trying to explain that is like trying to explain what it’s like to get married or have a child. So I’ll give her the excitement, and maybe temper it here and there with a warnings of reality. However, nothing I say will change the fact that she is moving to a place she falls in love with each visit and cries over whenever she leaves.

We called our good friends Claudia and Leticia, who live in LA and I’ve known since New York, Suzanna longer. Saying goodbye is not for the faint of heart. We are now limiting ourselves to one goodbye a day. Hopefully, we’ll be done by October. To quote Shakespeare,

“Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”

Today is our cleaning day. Vacuum, laundry, shower tiles – the whole nine. This includes dealing with those stacks of mail and papers that seem to grow during the night.

In one stack I found a backup CD with some old writing. Here’s some from the digital archive. I’ll pull one of these out from now and then.

June 10, 2005

Down the road aways

Sweet dusty roads
Take his mind
Back to the hills
Rolling behind.

Cool morning mists
Breezy deep nights
Fireflies swirl
In the quiet moonlight.

Ache in his heart
Brings tears to his eyes
To think of that life
Where his truth lies.

But it’s not hard to find
Where those stories stay
Just round the next bend
Down the road aways.

George Washington transcribed 110 Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour In Company and Conversation when he was 16 years old. At the time, he was not alone in his interest in dignity. He was of an age where society cared a great deal about common decency and respect.

Some rules were so straightforward they were funny.

107th If others talk at Table be attentive but talk not with Meat in your Mouth.

101st Rince not your Mouth in the Presence of Others.

Others, deep.

109th Let your Recreations be Manfull not Sinfull.

There were puzzling ones.

92d Take no Salt or cut Bread with your Knife Greasy.

And eternal truths.

110th Labour to keep alive in your Breast that Little Spark of Celestial fire Called Conscience.

Our society has lost these rules, or maybe just never learned them. In doing so, it has lost its dignity.

Here’s is a link to all 110 rules. Enjoy them. It’s been a reminder to me to respect my dignity and that of others.

Robert Frost once said, “A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain.”

Lovely.

Maira Kalman writes “And the Pursuit of Happiness,” a blog at the New York Times. But to call her a blog writer is an understatement. Part illustrator, part poet, and wholly human, in the best of ways, her entries are full of peaceful sincerity. Reading them is as relaxing an activity as one can find on the Internet. Here is her latest entry, May It Please the Court.

The comments on her entries also sparkle with kindred spirits, and this week’s elicited a poem of thanks from a commentor known only as B B Gardner. Man, woman, I don’t know. If you are B.B. Gardner, please let us know so we can properly attribute this lovely little gem of gratitude.

Listen,

you are one of the best writers ever
and if you were my neighbor
i would weed your garden
for free
just because you understand
what is important in the world
and how to illustrate it
nicely.

i am just saying…

B B Gardner

I couldn’t have said it better.