Here is a response I got from one of our readers, Marty, to the previous article on Research Projects and my journey part 1 that I thought was worth sharing with everyone.

Marty’s comment:

Lori, thanks SO much for having the guts to do this. For me, I have the lovely excuse that there is no study within two hundred miles from me, so I don’t even have to fight that battle. I think I fear that I will start “counting my symptoms” instead of “counting my blessings” once I enrolled in something like that. The stigma is a killer, but it shouldn’t be.

Thank you for your comment Marty 

My Response:

I think as we age we start paying more attention to our symptoms; study or not!  LOL.  I also feel with this disease it is wise to be observant but not paranoid.  Alzheimer’s isn’t something we can stop, but with the combination of medications, social environment, sense of purpose, and good support we can plan to live our life with passion and love if we are proactive.  Proactive, being of course the key word.  My Mother started having problems with her memory at my age 52.  I know it is something that could strike me.  But like with any disease we just never really know. So the question we all need to answer is  “How do we want to live our life?”   Live in fear or in celebration of life and the opportunities before us, which exist in the gravest of circumstances. We just have to train ourselves to look for them with a different eye and mindset.

Also I should note that you can do some studies by long distance so don’t just cross them off your list for that factor.  For example I just have to meet with the research center one time a year.  A vacation could even be worked around something like that!

 Lori