Welcome To My Early Onset Alzheimer’s Blog

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On December 22, 2018 I was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s at 57 years old. It didn’t come as a complete surprise, because my mother and other family members had Alzheimer’s or dementia. I also had genetic testing which showed I had two APOE4 genes. My husband and I had been noticing that things were not quite right and that my memory seemed to be declining. I made an appointment at the Tampa Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute and had a brain scan, and memory testing done, and the diagnosis was confirmed. It has been a very emotional few months for me. I have always been a very active person who is always a glass is half full type of person. When given a bunch of lemons, you better bet I am going to make the best darn lemonade there is. I am a firm believer that ATTITUDE is EVERYTHING.

So with that, I am not going to let Alzheimer’s get the best of me. I have decided to start this blog to share my Alzheimer’s journey as sort of an online diary. My hope is that it will help me stay in touch with my family and friends, and help other people afflicted with this disease.

8 thoughts on “Welcome To My Early Onset Alzheimer’s Blog”

  1. Thank you for beginning to share your journey, I will read it with great interest. My husband was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s in Sept 2017 at the age of 56.

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    1. You are welcome. I’m going to do it as long as I can. My memory is fleeting and this blog tool can be difficult, but it is always good for me to try to learn something new. Please keep in touch and follow my blog. I will be posting stuff that hopefully will help.

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    1. I am so sorry to hear this. They seem to have some really great doctors. If she would like to reach out to me I would be happy to talk to her. Also, tell her to follow my blog! We are all in this together.

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  3. Hi Kelly,

    I told you in FB that I will follow your blog , here I am… my mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s almost 10 years ago, she was already in her late 60’s but is always a concern for any of us ( her children) what symptoms or changes did you noticed on yourself that make you go and get tested? Thank you for writing this blog and for what you do in FB for our firbabies .i will continue praying for you . Hugs and kisses

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    1. Hello. Thank you for writing. My Mom and some of my other family members had Alzheimer’s and dementia. I had genetic testing and found out that I had two APOE4 genes. At 55 years old my husband and I noticed that I was become very forgetful about things that just happened a few minutes before and I was having difficulty with word recall. I mentioned it to my primary doc who did some initial memory testing. He then sent me to an Alzheimer’s Institute where I had additional testing done which confirmed my diagnosis. Please see my Alzheimer’s plan of attack post as well as other ones that I will post. There are some things that you can do to slow down cognitive decline. Please keep in touch via my blog and the Saving Pets site. I hope I can help others by doing this. Thanks.

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  4. Kelly, I just came across your blog and am so sorry to hear of this diagnosis and disease you’re having to live through. My wife’s grandmother had Alzheimer’s. I very much enjoyed working with you and if there’s anyone that can make lemonade out of lemons it’s you! Good speed to you.

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    1. Thank you, Rick. I appreciate it. I am sorry to hear about your wife’s grandmother. I know you and your wife are very active and hopefully that will help her prevent this disease. I think my “survivor skills” I developed working where we did has helped me establish the grit and determination to help me try to beat this disease. Thank you for reaching out. I hope you are doing well. Our mutual friend keeps me updated on you occasionally!

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