The Old Man Lunch Blog
Old Man Lunch is a podcast about three old friends having lunch, going for walks, skiing, drinking, or just having fun together as we ease into old age. While we have known each other for decades, our little Old Man Group really came together a few years ago when we started going on an annual ski trip. Since then, Old Man Lunch has grown into a monthly lunch, ski weekends away, and other nonsense.
The twist to our story is that one of us was recently diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s at the age of 55. Matt’s diagnosis was a shock, but a year later we are leaning into Old Man Lunch by starting a podcast to help us deal with Matt’s diagnosis, leave a record of his progression and provide a roadmap of what to expect for others who have or will be diagnosed with this awful disease.
By allowing others a front row seat to Matt’s progression through Alzheimer’s we will hopefully be able to create a general guide (everyone experiences Alzheimer’s differently) for what other Alzheimer patients and their caregivers can expect to experience.
We are also going to have some fun, we now need to jam 20 years of retirement merriment into a much shorter time frame so expect some boozy nonsense, and high jinks.
I would like to acknowledge an Alzheimer’s podcast which has certainly influenced me while also giving me insight into what we would like to accomplish with this podcast. The Forgetting, which is co-hosted by David Shenk, author of the book The Forgetting and Greg O'Brien, author of On Pluto, Inside the Mind of Alzheimer's is a fascinating podcast that follows Greg’s progression through the disease. Please consider giving it a listen.
Our goal is to provide a deep look into how Alzheimer’s impacts Matt life as well as his family, friends, wife and children. We want to talk about the daily challenges, frustrations, and believe it or not, freedoms (Matt’s words), that Alzheimer’s has brought into his life.
We also hope that this podcast and blog can highlight the massive impact that Alzheimer’s has on both the individual with the diagnosis as well as everyone they love. Alzheimer’s is a family disease, it impacts everyone, the patient’s spouse, children, family and friends. We hope to call attention to just how stressful, expensive and life altering an Alzheimer’s diagnosis can be to a family.
While there are many misconceptions about Alzheimer’s, one of the more important ones, at least in our minds, is the belief that this disease only strikes old people at the end of their lives. Currently, there are an estimated 6.9 million Americans over the age of 65 living with Alzheimer’s and 26% of them fall between the ages of 65 and 74 which would hardly be considered the brink of death.
In addition, early or younger onset Alzheimer’s can hit people as early as their 30’s. While statistics on early-onset are not as detailed, researchers estimate that roughly 110 out of every 100,000 people between 30 and 64 or roughly 200,000 Americans currently have early-onset dementia. Matt is one of those 200,000.
While the average life expectancy with early onset is 3-8 years after diagnosis, patients can live up to 25 years or more which often makes Alzheimer’s a slow-moving disease that requires the patient and their caregivers to make massive adjustments to their lives to manage the ever-worsening symptoms. In many cases, well before someone with Alzheimer’s dies, there have been years and maybe even decades of struggle that the patient and their family have endured.
I am going to end my Alzheimer’s rant there.
So, what can you expect from the Old Man Lunch blog?
Honestly, it will mainly be Matt’s writing, with some occasional nonsense from me and hopefully more than a few posts about Alzheimer’s news and treatment updates.
Just like the podcast, this blog will more than likely be an amalgam of writings, everything from information about Alzheimer’s to extremely personal writing from Matt.
Matt has been writing on a weekly basis with a friend up in Boulder. They meet and just sit and write about whatever is on their mind that day, and it appears that many of those days, Alzheimer’s was occupying his thoughts. Just as often, joy, love, laughter, his wife and family, friends, and wonder dog Lucy are top of his mind. It all feels very honest and authentic and scary, at least to me.
So, we will start there, with a few postings of Matt’s writing to give you feel of where he is at emotionally and in his Alzheimer’s journey.
As I edited the first and second episodes, I noticed some things. I am a loud talker, I tend to interrupt and talk over people, Matt needs to sit closer to the mic, I was unorganized, we wander off topic and never come back, I talk too fast, and Brad doesn’t talk enough. I probably need to curb the swearing and drink less.
So keep coming back, we will get better I promise, till next time.
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