Small Miracles

At Ray's last, and somewhat devastating, doctor's appointment, Dr. Knapik suggested Ray take Aricept to improve his memory and cognitive skills. Aricept is generally used to treat Alzheimer's patients, and comes in two doses, 10mg and 23mg. Ray is taking the 10mg dose which is supposed to have lower side effects. Thankfully, the only one that we can see is that Ray has started getting leg cramps.

I have to admit, I wasn't very optimistic that medication would help. Ray's condition is degenerative, but it's not Alzheimer's. And because it is degenerative, I wasn't certain that a medication could keep up with the degeneration. Dr. Knapik said that 20% of patients taking  maintain their current level of thinking and that the other 80% actually see improvement for a time. I can't describe how desperately I wanted Ray to be one of the ones that improved.

We filled Ray's prescription on Friday, July 6. Every day for the first week I asked Ray if he felt smarter. I was teasing...kind of... I finally stopped watching and waiting for something big to happen, and we went on with life. About the time we filled the prescription, Ray had started falling a lot. He couldn't even walk across our den without holding onto furniture and walls. I ordered a cane that Ray could use around the house and while we were on vacation.

I started to write an update on Ray's condition before we left for our vacation, but I didn't know what to say. I couldn't tell if the Aricept was helping or not. It's hard to see a change when you see someone every day, and really, I see Ray for a few hours at the end of the day when he's exhausted. I really couldn't see a difference here at home.

We pulled into my aunt's house on August 5. She hadn't seen Ray since April and she could immediately see that he was better. After Vernell pointed it out, I realized that Ray hadn't been using his cane for at least a week. Ray did really well all through our vacation. He played chicken foot dominoes without help, walked all over Six Flags WITHOUT A CANE (it was in my bag in case he needed it), and was even able to stand and hold Kip for a few minutes. These things sound so small, but I didn't expect Ray to be able to stay at Six Flags all day, much less walk it all day without a cane. Three weeks ago he couldn't hold himself up, but there he is holding Kip!!

I don't know how long Aricept can keep up with the degeneration. Even though I know Ray will eventually get worse, I'm incredibly thankful that it has provided us with an increased quality of life for however long it lasts. We'll take all the time we can get.