Incredibly saddening to read. I wish Lee, Kristin, and their son all the best.
What Happened to Lee
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Re: What Happened to Lee
#12And people don't understand why I fell into a two week existential crisis after I saw 'The Notebook'
> many of the neurologists who study it believe it is underdiagnosed
This is a tragedy. Of course it's underdiagnosed. Everyone around you would just think you're an asshole. In the article, it sounds like so many people fought right and were patient and loving. How many cases do we never hear about, get fought abusively, and push the last shattered remnants of a person into drugs, suicide, etc.
Re: What Happened to Lee
#13Perhaps this is too philosophical, but for anyone who has dealt with someone with a long decline into dementia, it's very difficult for me to understand a belief in God after going through that (I certainly understand some people have the exact opposite reaction, so I'm in no way saying this belief is correct).
It's just difficult for me to envision a crueler God if that is indeed the case. A person who has died long before their body gives way, only to be a constant burden, with virtually no joy, and a constant reminder that your loved one is dead, yet still here.
In the worst cases I say unreservedly that it is a huge relief when the person's body finally joins their mind in death.
Re: What Happened to Lee
#14This is horrifying. Conversations soon became impossible. Lee started chattering in repetitive, unceasing loops. He would tell Kristin: “We met at Cloudflare. We got engaged in Rome. We got married in Maui, Hawaii.” He repeated it hundreds of times a day. Then the loops got shorter, more cryptic. He spoke fewer sentences, instead muttering sequences of numbers or letters. At the same time, given the flashes of lucidi…
It was incredibly sad to watch. The last time I saw him while he was still speaking — he is still alive but doesn’t speak or seem to recognize me anymore — he would repeat the same questions from the same conversation in the same order on a 30-minute loop. Over and over. I’ve really struggled to wrap my mind around his condition. I don’t think it’s frustrating for him. He seems to have lost the emotion to be frustrat…
I'm sorry for the loss you and his other friends/loved ones have experienced.
Do you feel like the article was accurate and fair to the people involved?
Re: What Happened to Lee
#15I hope they tried supplementing with herbals like Lions mane or anything that stimulates nervous cell growth.
Also he lost a lot more than his self here. Terrible condition.
Re: What Happened to Lee
#16I just finished reading this and I'm weeping. I'm so sorry.
Re: What Happened to Lee
#17So sad and bleak to read.
Are there any remotely promising paths to treating or preventing neurodegenerative diseases like these in the future? Or at least to slow down the progression? Are there any experimental drugs? Will we likely just need to wait until targeted in vivo genetic engineering is understood and mastered?
I know those are broad questions, but suffering from something like dementia, Alzheimer's, or Parkinson's, or having a loved one suffer from it, seems like one of the cruelest fates imaginable. The helplessness of the doctor saying there's basically nothing you can do other than to try to eat healthy and exercise... If I was given such a diagnosis while still lucid, I think I would want to try every experimental treatment available, if any exist. I'd accept almost any risk over that horrifying, inevitable outcome.
Re: What Happened to Lee
#18I have a chronic neurological condition that may eventually affect my ability to walk (though it is stable and the current prognosis is good and the drugs work for the pain) but when I was going through the process of finding out what it was and how bad it was the one question at the front of my mind was "will this affect me mentally?", I could live with the thought I may one day need a wheelchair but I don't think I could live knowing I was going to lose my essential sense of self.
This is a beautifully written article but it hit me pretty hard, I can understand the terror having faced it for a few months, I think if I got a diagnosis of dementia I'd head to Switzerland at the point where I still could.
My heart goes out to Lee and his family.
Re: What Happened to Lee
#19Neurodegenerative diseases scare me out of my wits. All I can hope is whatever takes me is swift, or at the very least leaves my mind intact. Regardless of who you were and how rich and famous you might be, all what matters is what you'll be.
Re: What Happened to Lee
#20So sad and bleak to read. Are there any remotely promising paths to treating or preventing neurodegenerative diseases like these in the future? Or at least to slow down the progression? Are there any experimental drugs? Will we likely just need to wait until targeted in vivo genetic engineering is understood and mastered? I know those are broad questions, but suffering from something like dementia, Alzheimer's, or Pa…
A cocktail of neural herbals, exercise, meditation, extra therapy - I hope he got all these early on.