Keith wrote:
> In my opinion, I regard Terry Pratchett as a pseud. and he's no more
> suffering from what he calls "a very rare form of Alzheimer's" than
> I do.
Are you quibbling about his diagnosis as reported in the media or
charging him with malingering or grandstanding?
As far as I know, it's still not possible to conclusively diagnose
(what is properly, technically called) Alzheimer's until post mortem
examination. "A rare form of Alzheimer's" could well be used, by
doctors -- those who habitually try to water down medical complexity
for the abysmally ignorant and misinformed public [1] -- to describe
any sort of brain atrophy or deterioration. At age 64, loss of motor
coordination is an untimely affliction. If the medics are using the
term "Alzheimer's" cavalierly when talking someone as bright and
educable as Pratchett, that's risible. A non-Alzheimer's atrophy of
the motor cortex, of unknown etiology, doesn't carry the same
predictable threat of eventual dementia. Someone who would sooner be
dead than physically incapacitated *and* demented might well choose to
live with the motor impairment and a uncompromised mind.
- Mike
[1] I laugh to myself every time I recall my encounter with a
dermatologist. I don't think I've posted this anecdote here
before.
Dermatologist and I sit down face to face on stools. I
describe symptoms (which happen to be in remission at that
point.) He asks a couple of pertinent questions which I
answer. I can see his mind go Click! and he launches into what
is obviously a canned spiel something like:
Many people have this. It is a matter of individual
variation in sensitivity. It is caused by mites which
everyone naturally has on their skin. It is not that you
are dirty, just that you are more susceptible to the mites
which....
I interrupt him:
Me: I've taken skin scraping and looked for mites, didn't
find any.
MD: You can't see them. They're too small.
Me: I've used a 20 power field microscope and can't see
any.
Now he's irritated and raises his voice.
MD: You *can't see* them. They're too small
Me: How many legs do these mites have?
Now he's pissed off and barely restraining himself.
MD: They don't HAVE legs. They're TOO SMALL!
Me: Okay, mites are arthropods. They're related to spiders
and they all have eight legs.
MD: Call them organisms.
Me: So, you mean some kind of yeast or fungus?
MD: Call them organisms!!
Ding! It dawns on me that this is an old-school guy who avoids
using three-syllable words with "laymen" and is absolutely,
unequivocally *never* going to utter the word "yeast" in my
presence lest I launch into some kind of pop-doctoring,
alternative-medicine, my-granny-told-me, saw-it-on-television,
rant about yeast infections. Yow! I had forgotten that such
guys still existed.
Anyhow, he prescribes a different cortisone and recommends
Nizoral shampoo. Working back from the Nizoral poop sheet, I
determine that his "mites" are probably pityrosporum ovale,
Nizoral whacks them real good, I don't need the cortisone and all
is well. Jeez, he coulda just *said*.
--
Michael Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada .~.
/V\
[email protected] /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/ ^^-^^
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