Alzheimer's & Firearms

[scythefwd]

JohnBT - Some people method of dealing with a disturbing subject is to laugh at it. It's a coping mechanism. I found it funny. But then again, I did make fun of my aunts breast cancer (as did she... we had one hell of a laugh about it actually), my mother death (dehydrated mom, just add beer), and a lot of other things. Some people have to be serious about grave matters, and that is fine... others have to laugh about it or it overwhelms them... also fine. Then there are guys like me that realize that life isn't a permanent state and sooner or later we are all dead, so why not enjoy the little time we have instead of moping about things we cannot control?

 

[JohnBT]

So who is moping? I'm back at work this week after burying my 89-year-old father Friday. Are you going to start with the kidney failure jokes now? Go ahead, say something funny about rectal hemorrhaging and turning yellow and swelling up.

It would be just as funny as thinking that Alzheimer's is only about forgetting.

 

[scythefwd]

No John, I won't make the jokes... you wouldn't find them funny. It's as much about the audience as it is what is said. My mother, who was a drunk and killed (while sober) in a drunk driving accident, was having jokes about her death and the manner of it said at the funeral.

I didn't say you were moping. I will stand that everything in life has something comedic about it. Life is the great tragedy... but it's a comedic tragedy. I fully know that AL's is not just about forgetting but that is one symptom... having watched several of my family members suffer from it. There is a theory out there right now that there is a genetic predisposition for it. If that is the case, then I will also watch my father go through it, and it is my fate as well. It's like Parkinsons isn't just about loss of muscular control, but my grandfather, who had a 2 inch shake when he was controlling it would jokingly volunteer to handle any aerosols before we used them.... Like the rest of my family, which I will gladly admit has no taste, I will seek out the comedy in life's tragedies and enjoy them for what they are.

I am sorry to hear of your loss.

 

[shootingthebreeze]

Already anyone with a psych history cannot own firearms.
Organic brain disease is serious and gun ownership should be re-evaluated as well.
Brain injury should be evaluated as far as cognitive and neurological function. If there are deficits gun ownership should also cease.
This is a very serious issue.

 

[gym]

Sorry for your loss John

 

[2ndAmFan]

My mother lives alone and takes care of herself. She does have short term memory problems but she still drives fine and no way she would go nuts and start blasting away with her gun. She remembers very well how to drive and how and when use of a firearm is called for. She grew up on a ranch in Wyoming and has killed her share of coyotes and wolves.
She asks me at least about once a month if I feel she is ok to drive and have a gun in the house. I feel confident she would take my advice if I told her I thought she should stop driving or keeping a gun handy.

 

[JohnBT]

"I will stand that everything in life has something comedic about it."

No, you still don't get it. Alzheimer's is not about forgetting, it's a death sentence. A slow progressive death sentence that steals everything about the person and then their health and then their life. Joking about forgetting in an Alzheimer's discussion is so far off the point and the reality of the disease that it's not funny.

And that's what I said. Not funny.

Think about it.

 

[scythefwd]

john, you don't get it. Not only do I know als is a slow degenerative spiral that ends in death...in it self not funny. Then there are aspects of humor in the day to day of it. Like I said, I've watched 3 relatives go out that way... I know exactly how serious it gets. No more or less serious than someone sober dying in a drunk driving accident.... I still find humor in it. Not in the death, but that is only one aspect of the evet or disease.

 

[Shienhausser]

scythefwd, my friend, you are fighting a losing battle arguing with him.

Some people just don't see it the way we do.

I agree with you 100%

That's why when I made my original remark I didn't say something crass and vulgar like "lol death disease that's funny chortle chortle" because it's not funny.

Instead I made a small crack about forgetfulness which I found mildly humorous.

I don't limit myself for everyone's sensitivities but I do have respect in that I am careful what I say. If someone can't even handle that then well, they can take care knowing that I probably wouldn't be their friend should we meet and they can turn their monitor off and my horrible senseless comments go away.



This thread has gotten quite off topic and if this matter shall be discussed it should be taken to PM and not cluttering up a legit thread.

Sigh, not everyone will understand or appreciate what we do in our daily lives but then again I guess that's why we are human.

 

[CajunBass]

I haven't bothered to read all three pages of discussion. I just thought I'd toss out my experience for what it's worth.

Three years ago...almost four now that I think of it, my wife suffered a ruptured aneurysm in her brain. By the grace of God, she survived and is still with me. Before she "blew up my brain" (as she calls it), she loved to shoot, had guns that were HERS, and not only had her CHP, she talked/shamed me into getting mine. This was a lady who really enjoyed shooting/guns. She still does.

The part of her brain that was damaged is the part that controlls short term memory however. Anything before that day, she remembers like it was yesterday. Something that happend five minutes ago, forget it. She has no idea. I must tell her a hundred times a day "Yes honey, I have to work/I'm off today."

So how does this relate to shooting? It doesn't. She still loves to shoot, and does it quite well. She learned how to before. What it does have to do with is her carrying a gun. She carries her her purse you see. And she is just as likely to forget she's carrying a purse as she will where we are (another question I answer 100 times a day ) I wasn't willing to risk her leaving her purse and a Glock 19 at McDonalds, or the interstate rest area. Shoot, I try to talk her out of carrying a purse at all now. Too much trouble for me to keep up with it. And it doesn't match my shoes. (She's reading over my shoulder as I write this.)

So I just took her gun away from her. It was not an easy decision, but a necessary one. Did I violate her rights? Maybe so. But I did tell her, and explained why I did it. She did understand that and agreed with the decision...after a short pout session. From time to time i still have to explain why her purse is so light..."Where's my Glock?" It's in the gun safe honey.

On the other hand I have managed to convince her that Glocks are evil, and she really likes Smith & Wesson revolvers, and we need more of them.

She still enjoys going to the range with me. She might have to set on her walker to shoot (the balance centers were also damaged), but she still has a great time.

 

[gym]

You guys know that if it's a really healthy person, in the latter stages they don't remember how to do anything. My uncle went from running an airline to, not being able to go to the bathroom alone or tie a shoe, eventually if the body is still strong enough, they actually forget how to breathe, that's it, what more horrible death is there than this. Anger is one of the final symptoms, they are angry all the time near the end, and violent, even the most non violent person can go into a fit of rage and hit you with whatever is around. Before this happens you hopefully have had years to do your homework, and know that you may not, "especially if your husband has it" , be able to care for that person, as they may not know who you are, and feel threatned at any "what they feel to be interference in their business".
Guns are out of the picture long befor this happens, if you have any sense at all. As I mentioned in my uncles case , he was smart enough to know he had it, way before being diagnosed with it.
On a side note, my wifes friends husband has it now, in his 60's. They refused to diagnose him with it because they would have to give him dissability, and since he worked for wallmart, they put him in the back stacking boxes. He ran a department.
He reached a point where his supervisor told the company that "this man cannot function on any level" and it seems that know they are finally conceding and allowing him to recieve the medication,"expensive" and dissability". Even though he could no longer drive or remember where he lived.This is the state of health care in america today. I honestlly don't think he even would know what a gun was at this point. You need to be vigillant if you suspect that a friend or familly member "especially those who live alone", has this disease. If no one is around to notice, bad things like fires and other non gun related catastrophies can happen, everyone is different, some will know and some won't. I don't really think that guns are a large factor with most, although anything is possible. You can get a terminally ill person with any disease who just flips out, it dosen't have to be any one dissease. In this economy it could just be debt or the inability to feed ones family, don't dwell on a particular disease as having anything to do with guns, or violence.I have a woman a few doors down who get injected with an $18,000.00 a month enzyme flown in once a month, while she waits for a lung transplant, she is as upbeat, and has more of a zest for life than anyone I know, she's 50. Just my 2 cent's.