Update

I'm not doing so well as a Blogger....it's a lot like my Twitter account - I tweet but I'm not sure anyone reads what I tweet.  The Blog thing is just something I haven't embraced.  Perhaps it's because I'm not sure I have anything anyone really wants to read.

My dad is now 73 and he continues to have problems with reading and writing.  We just keep getting conflicting information.  We had been told by the doctor in Tampa that he had a stroke.  We followed up recently with a doctor in Indianapolis (a neuro-ophthalmologist).  At first she concurred with the Tampa doctor that he's had a stroke, but if that were the case, he should be improving and he's not.  She had another PET CT scan done and now she says there is no indication on there that he has had a stroke.  She had diagnosed him with PPA - a rare form of dementia called Primary Progressive Aphasia.  For my dad, his symptoms are basically problems with letter recognition, writing, and reading aloud.  No big deal, right?  Not for most of us, but for my dad, who happens to be a college professor AND a successful textbook author?  It's a big deal.  It's a HUGE deal!  It's probably the most cruel thing that could have happened to him.  So now what?

He finally has an appointment scheduled at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville in October.  I pray that they can determine what's wrong with him.  If it truly is PPA, they have programs and studies dealing specifically with PPA.  My hope is that we can get both of my parents into some sort of PPA management and care program for when they are down south during the winter months.  From what I have read so far, this disease will progress and he will get worse.  How much worse, we don't know.  

For the time being, my goal was to get him writing again, and that's happening.  He's not able to write as he did in the past - he can't just sit down at the computer and write - but with my mom's and my help, he's writing.  Right now we're working on several cases to submit for publication.  He tells me what to write and I type it in.  In some cases, he's been able to sit down and type, but he often has to stop and ask my mom how to spell a word and sometimes he can't remember which letter he's supposed to hit on the keyboard, but we're learning to be patient.  

He is going to be teaching a class again this Fall - it's on-line, so there's not the issue of his being unable to read something to the class.  However, it will mean a lot of interaction on-line and I'm guessing that will require my assistance.

And that brings us to me....school started this week and for the second year in a row, I didn't go.  It was easier this year than last.  Last year was really raw.  This year, not so much.  Now, though, it's pretty clear that I need to find a job and quickly.  But what to do?  I had found several opportunities that seemed intriguing, but they were out of town.  With my dad's problems, moving is out of the question.  There are some who don't approve, but I can't abandon my parents.  My mom doesn't touch the computer, my siblings are out of town, and there's no one else who can be at my dad's beck and call to help him with computer/writing issues.  Sure, he can call a repairman to get the printer working, but a repairman isn't going to send an email with an attachment for him.  So....if it's to be, it's up to me.