For persons with Alzheimer's Disease (AD), they may know more about their surroundings and what is said to them than people think. They ought to be treated in conversation just as though they don't have AD, but have awareness and recognize what is being said, even if they don't reflect it. And they, like all of us, appreciate warmth and friendliness.
According to current research, we have 86 billion neurons in our brain. Whether we have dementia in AD or not, some of our neurons are constantly dying, just as cells in our bodies are constantly dying, but new ones are also being produced. There are neurons that transport information to parts of the brain involving memory and reasoning. This part of the brain is like a factory. When certain elements of a factory shut down, confusion and inefficiency occurs. But some of the images stored in this factory in the brain remain, although they may be mysteriously hidden. Sometimes they may surface like the sun breaking through the clouds on a dark day.
What a delightful book! "Remarkably Bright Creatures" (HarperCollins, 2022) by a debut author, Shelby Van Pelt. This book has been on the New York Times bestseller list numerous times since its publication and the author won a Reader's Choice Award for Best Debut Writer.
It remains one of the most read pop-fiction books and was the first unanimous selection by Ada Book Club members for 2025. I have to thank Jill Simmons for bringing this book to our attention.
Bill Herr taught high school mathematics and science for 32 years. After retiring from teaching, he began a nursing home ministry, first as a volunteer and then as a nursing home chaplain. He has written columns for the Icon on Bluffton sports history and on being a chaplain.
For a few years I've had the rare pleasure and honor to review books and post a few articles with the Icon. This isn't a book review yet, but I have a new capacity in life to share with book lovers and those concerned about my health.
Miracles.
Let's start back in 2022 when I had a laminectomy, or removal of some vertebra spurs on my lower right back so nerves weren't being pinched and painful. After the procedure I was given an opioid pain killer that was clearly listed on my chart as TOXIC and allergic. I suffered a massive heart attack. But I was blessed that day because the best Cardiologist in Lima was on call, and he brought me back to life, placed two life-saving stents in my heart, and allowed me to live again.
Columnist Bill Herr taught high school mathematics and science for 32 years before serving as a volunteer and then as a staff chaplain at two nursing homes.
By Bill Herr
When a person develops dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), some of the wiring in the brain gets out of alignment. The result is difficulty verbalizing, having memory issues and possibly posing behavioral changes. It is believed that everything we ever learned or experienced in our lives is recorded somewhere in our brain.
Columnist Bill Herr taught high school mathematics and science for 32 years before serving as a volunteer and then as a staff chaplain at two nursing homes.
By Bill Herr
My aunt lived in a nursing home in a nearby city. I have great memories of my aunt and uncle. At family gatherings in their home, the younger ones played games and the older ones played cards. My aunt had been active in social organizations. My uncle had a good job and always had a cigar in his mouth when they played cards. He had passed years before when I went to visit my aunt a nursing home.
When I visit someone I always bring up past events in that person’s life in the conversation. When I mentioned my uncle’s name, my aunt, who now had dementia, asked me where he was. I said, “He is in heaven, you remember he died a few years back.” That was the wrong thing for me to say. My aunt cried and said, “Why didn’t someone tell me?” She was angry.
