THE GEEZER AND DEMENTIA????
Posted: February 13, 2013 Filed under: geezerHealth Leave a comment »Am I a candidate for dementia? Or, do I just need to stop reading the news? When you read this, keep in mind that The Geezer has no hearing in one ear, even with a hearing aid; and only 30% in the other. However, with one expensive hearing aid, I can usually get by, although noisy restaurants are a bit of a problem. I am 72 and have been deaf for at least 20 years or so; whether I am demented, or about to become so, is open to argument.
The New York Times on February 12, 2013 has an interesting and scary article entitled “First Hearing Loss, Then Dementia,” by Katherine Bouton, who has written “Shouting Won’t Help: Why I — and 50 Million Other Americans — Can’t Hear You.” She cites Dr. Frank Lin who speculates on the correlation between hearing loss and Dementia. One risk factor was social isolation. Hearing aids apparently are not yet associated with lower risk for Dementia.
A couple of thoughts from the Geezer.
- Since my deafness was severe; resulting in a 17% disability to my body as a whole, hearing aids were not an option – I had to get them.
- Since I became deaf in my 50’s, I had no choice but to adapt and to use all sorts of compensating techniques in order to communicate; some worked and some didn’t. Maybe the ability to adapt will help me avoid Dementia; or, maybe not……
- I noticed, once I became deaf, that a lot of people around me were as deaf, or deafer than I was, but refused to wear hearing aids.
- The noisy rooms at hotels don’t bother me as I sleep without hearing aids.
- The most important thing is that if I hadn’t gone deaf, I would still be doing bankruptcies, and would not have spent seven of the last ten years volunteering in Eastern Europe, an experience probably worth the deafness; not totally sure, but I think so.
This said, I enjoyed the article, hope to read the book, and am not going to worry about Dementia too much, as I think Dementia is not so much a problem for the demented, as it is for those who have to care for them. However, as a backup, there is an article in the same Science Section of the New York Times entitled: “Fitness May Prevent Dementia.”
Time for The Geezer to take his daily walk , hit the fitness center, adjust my hearing aids, and review my long-term-care policy.
This blog may support the thesis that there is a correlation between deafness and Dementia, at least in The Geezer’s case; who knows?
MY GUNS ARE GONE!
Posted: February 10, 2013 Filed under: GAG (Grandparents Against Guns) 3 Comments »Last Saturday I took my two guns, a single shot rifle, at least 100 years old that I had bought mail order when I was 12; and, a single shot 4-10 shotgun that I have not fired in over 50 years.
I went twice. At 9:00 the line was too long, so I returned at 11:30, and there was no line, and no more gift cards. There were over 30 guys on the sidewalk in front of the police station with signs offering to buy my guns; yelling at me as I parked my car. It looked like a casting call for the remake of the movie “Deliverance.”
I chose to donate my guns; I couldn’t bring myself to sell them to the fat slobs yelling at me.
Three hundred guns were collected, among them a “Street Sweeper” shotgun.
They are going to do it again in a week.
Hopefully we saved a few more grandkids.
The Geezer Trades Guns!
Posted: February 6, 2013 Filed under: GAG (Grandparents Against Guns) 1 Comment »
Geezer’s Guns!
The Geezer owns two guns. The upper one he ordered from a magazine ad 60 years ago when he was 12. It came in the mail, with bullets, and was a single shot rifle that probably dated to WW I. The second is a 4-10 gauge single-shot, shot gun used to hunt doves and ducks in Kansas and pheasants in Iowa, in the 50’s. Neither has been fired for over 50 years.
On Saturday I will trade these two guns for two $100 Visa Cards at a police station in Albuquerque. I can’t think of any reason I need them and the rifle only cost me $14 in the 50’s. I no longer have bullets for either of them. The guns will be destroyed.
This grandfather is ridding himself of guns, even though these guns are not on anyone’s list as guns that should be banned. The Geezer does not know why he bought the rifle by mail-order when he was 12; except that several of his friends were doing it, and in 1952, no one thought it was a big problem.
To be honest, I do have fond memories of dove hunting season in Kansas which started on Labor Day and pheasant hunting along the railroad tracks in Iowa. In those days all the farmers had hedgerows around their land that provided a home for all sorts of wild birds and animals; since then, they have plowed right to the edge of the road, but I hear hedgerows are coming back; and maybe the doves and pheasants.
In any event, it is a different time and Grandparents Against Guns (GAG) mostly have no need of even these guns. The few who hunt should be allowed to keep their guns as long as they register them and keep them locked away from grandchildren.