9000 and Counting

I feel so humbled--I hit 9000 page views on this here blog.  For a long time, it was just me reading my own diary, but somewhere along the line, you all joined me on the journey.  I thank you for that.  I also look forward to seeing what's happening in your neck of the woods.  Since my interests vary widely, the blogs I read do, too. 

I'll try to come up with something more profound later this week, but for now

Thanks.

Autism and Alzheimer

A friend of mine wrote in his blog about how hard it is to visit with his Dad, who has Alzheimer's. (Birding with Kenn and Kim: Giving Thanks) . I have long, long maintained that when we find a cure for Autism, we will find a cure for Alzheimer's. Conversely, when we find a cure for Alzheimer's, we'll find a cure for Autism.

Living with folks with either sounds a lot alike. They forget who you are. They forget where they are. They say inappropriate things that they don't mean. They forget to eat. They eat too much. They sleep too much. They don't sleep enough. You know they want to express themselves because you can see it in their eyes. You can't tell what they want because they don't look at you anymore. They have receded into their own world and didn't take you with them. You rejoice for those tiny moments of cognizance--they are few and far between. It's hard to be with them. You grieve every day. Every single day.

So all you researchers out there: get cracking. Cure one or the other, I don't care which, but do it soon.