Transcription
From: A.D.Dikzwager
Subject: From Amsterdam with love
Sent: Sunday, 11 december 2022
To: Faysal El-Khali
My dear Faysal,
Thanks for your sign of life from Lagos. It's been a while, but in the
meantime I thought a lot about you and what it would be like to live in
Beirut now?
Are you, May and the family in good health? How do you deal with daily
life in Beirut these days? I imagine it won't be easy. I am very curious
how you are coping in Lebanon? Questions, questions? Is your home
still the apartment in the apartment building near the Marina? With the
year 2022 is almost over, are the 2022 yearend results of the family
softdrink-business satisfactory ?
Thanks for letting me know, that there is a breakthrough in treating
Alzheimer disease. It is for patients with early stage of Alzheimer.
The clinical psychiatrist, who diagnosed Vera with Alzheimer's disease,
told me that if persons come to me for an examination find out
whether or not he has Alzheimer, they at least have had this disease for
three years, instead of being somewhat forgetful.
Life is a bit complicated now that I have to lead Vera's life in addition to
my own life. In the household she no longer puts anything back in its
usual place. There is also a lot of missing because her short memory is
not able to remember the places where, for example, she put her keys,
or whatever. However, she enjoys visits and meetings with old friends
and acquaintances.
Now allow me to send our Seasons Greetings for that time with a
contemporary appropriate cartoon.
Love from both of us to you both and we often think of the fabulous
four days in Beirut in good company: that's YOU and MAY!
Vera & Adriaan
P.S.1
Quote
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the
unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to
himself. Therefore all progress depends on the
unreasonable man." unquote
G.B.Shaw 1856-1950
Think about this quote. Is there an unreasonable leader in Lebanon
who can change Lebanon in reasonable nation?
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the
unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to
himself. Therefore all progress depends on the
UNREASONABLE man. G.B.Shaw (1856-1950)
addendum 1
Vera's short memory fails her. Reading a book is pointless. That means, she appreciates my company to pass the time. Besides being 'honoris causa' Vera's caretaker, I am also her companion.
She also lost her sense of time. For example: Today, on Wednesday, Vera asks me what day of the week it is? I reply that it's Wednesday, to which Vera replies, "So it's Wendnesday."
She tries to keep track of the time using the calendar on her iPhone. She warns me about an upcoming event, but I have to tell her that it is an event from last month. According to dr Reisberg's Time line Vera has passed stage 4. I don't have to help her choosing clothes, because she never changes clothes.
Now let me finish the medical bulletin on poor Vera.
Addendum 2
Breaking News:
It is with great sadness that we have decided to move to Noordwijk.
We bought a 'rez de chaussée',a ground floor apartment and sold our apartment in Amsterdam.
The actual move will not take place until about the end of April,
as ownership of the apartment in Noordwijk will be transferred on March 31, 2023. The planning is to move end of April. I am looking forward to move to the apartment in Noordwijk without staircases.
Addendum 3
The DECINE in Alzheimer's goes step by step. What is
learned first is the last to leave the brain.
Alzheimer's disease follows a fixed route through the brain.
Under the microscope, you can see the first typical Alzheimer's abnormalities in the cerebral cortex of the temporal lobe, the entorhinal cortex, in the brains of the deceased. Then you see some abnormalities appear in the hippocampus. At that time there are no symptoms yet, so
the deceased never knew that the disease process in the brain had already started. But if the temporal lobe and hippocampus are heavily affected by Alzheimer's disease, short-term memory problems occur. People don't remember what happened recently, but can still remember fine details of a party at primary school.
Finally, if Alzheimer's disease affects the other cerebral cortex areas, the patient becomes demented. Not only the microscopic changes, but also the loss of functions follows a fixed pattern during the Alzheimer's process. Here, the skills disappear in exactly the reverse order in which we acquired them during our development.
This sequence is evidenced by the stages of the Alzheimer's process, which were numbered by Dr. Barry Reisberg in New York.
In stage 1, nothing is wrong.
In stage 2, people can no longer find their belongings, they notice that problems arise at work, but they can often keep it quite hidden.
In stage 3, others also notice that you can no longer perform your work.
In stage 4, things go wrong with more complex tasks, such as organizing the finances.
Next stage (5) you need help choosing clothes.
Then (6a) you need help with dressing,
(6b) with washing,
(6c) problems arise on the toilet with flushing and wiping your buttocks, one becomes incontinent for urine
(6d) and for faeces.
(6e). In stage 7a you only speak one to five words a day and then
you no longer speak intelligible words
(7b), you can no longer walk
(7c), and then you can no longer sit independently (7d).
Then (7e) the smile disappears, which everyone was so happy with when you were a baby, and
then (7f) you can't lift your head yourself anymore. The patient eventually lies in the fetal position in bed, and if you put a finger in his mouth, he has a sucking reflex. All he has a sucking reflex. All the way back to the newborn baby stage. unquote
