Tonight's picture was taken in September of 2008. Mattie was in treatment for about a month by that point. Our neighbor came over to deliver "Dandy Dog" to Mattie. Her friend creates these life sized stuffed animals and she wanted Mattie to have his cowboy. Mainly because she wanted Mattie to know that he was rugged and tough like a cowboy and he needed to tap into that strength to cope with cancer. As you can see, Mattie was showing us that he and Dandy Dog were about the same size. The generosity of our support community while Mattie was undergoing treatment was truly incredible. Never to be forgotten.
Quote of the day: The reality is that you will grieve forever. You will not ‘get over’ the loss of a loved one; you’ll learn to live with it. You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. You will be whole again but you will never be the same. Nor should you be the same nor would you want to. ~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
It was another busy day with my dad at his memory care center, taking my mom to physical therapy, and then taking my parents out to eat. While at the restaurant, I was tracking Peter's flight back from Boston. Thankfully he is home safely now. Sunny and Indie (and me) are thrilled.
My colleague and friend, Lisa, sent me an article today entitled, Walk this number of steps each day to cut your risk of dementia. Since my dad was hospitalized in 2020, all I have been hearing about is walking. Getting my dad up, walking, and counting steps. I think this short article highlights the importance of walking and it reminds me...... to put on my pedometer! I have no idea how many steps I take in a given day. Mainly because I do not always have my cell phone on me to track my steps.
Basically the premise of the article is that walking and obtaining a certain number of steps per day (112 steps per minute), and particularly walking at a certain speed/rate, has been found to decrease the likelihood of developing dementia. Specifically it was found that exercise boosts levels of a protein known to strengthen communication between brain cells via synapses, which may be a key factor in keeping dementia at bay.
If dementia is inherited, then my future doesn't look very positive. However, I compare myself to my dad, and from a physical standpoint, we have lived a night and day difference. My dad has always been a much more sedentary person and unfortunately I do think his choices about NOT walking have come back to haunt him. However, in all reality, my dad isn't aware of his issues now, but given that I am providing his care, I would say that his behaviors have directly impacted me.
If you want to learn more, check out these two links below:
Walk this number of steps each day to cut your risk of dementia
It is hard to believe that tomorrow is September 8, marking the 13th anniversary of Mattie's death. For the last 12 years, September 8th has been sunny and warm. Just like it was in 2009, on the day Mattie actually died. Tomorrow it is scheduled to rain. I am not sure why that is important to note, other than it is different. What I do recall about September 8, 2009, was that it was a beautiful weather day, I MEAN GLORIOUS! But my body, mind, and spirit felt like the world was coming to an end, and I frankly did not understand how the sun could be shining and that earth was still revolving! Now 13 years later, I am certainly more physically stable, but emotionally the impact of Mattie's death still reverberates and impacts every aspect of my life.
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