Book contents
- A Tattoo on My Brain
- Reviews
- A Tattoo on My Brain
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Prologue
- 1 Beacon Rock
- 2 Forewarned and Forearmed
- 3 The Smell of Baking Bread
- 4 Sneak Preview
- 5 A Stubborn Puzzle
- 6 The Locked Box and the Family Tree
- 7 The Measure of Memory
- 8 Orcas Nonetheless
- 9 My Brain, My Self
- 10 The Reveal
- 11 Cognitive Reserve and Resiliency: Brain Cells in the Bank
- 12 My Experimental Life
- 13 When ARIA Is More than an Operatic Solo
- 14 My Experiential Life: Living with Early-Stage Alzheimer’s Disease
- 15 Madeleines, Music and African Doves
- 16 It’s Only Scary If You Look Down
- 17 Beyond DNA: Family History Reconsidered
- 18 News at 5: Retired Neurologist Battles Alzheimer’s
- 19 The Forest, the Trees and the Ground Beneath My Feet
- 20 What’s in a Name? Alzheimer’s Reimagined
- 21 A Meaningful Outcome
- Epilogue: The Writing Life
- Epilogue: The Writing Life, Act II
- Appendix:
- Resources
- Index
- References
Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 November 2022
- A Tattoo on My Brain
- Reviews
- A Tattoo on My Brain
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Prologue
- 1 Beacon Rock
- 2 Forewarned and Forearmed
- 3 The Smell of Baking Bread
- 4 Sneak Preview
- 5 A Stubborn Puzzle
- 6 The Locked Box and the Family Tree
- 7 The Measure of Memory
- 8 Orcas Nonetheless
- 9 My Brain, My Self
- 10 The Reveal
- 11 Cognitive Reserve and Resiliency: Brain Cells in the Bank
- 12 My Experimental Life
- 13 When ARIA Is More than an Operatic Solo
- 14 My Experiential Life: Living with Early-Stage Alzheimer’s Disease
- 15 Madeleines, Music and African Doves
- 16 It’s Only Scary If You Look Down
- 17 Beyond DNA: Family History Reconsidered
- 18 News at 5: Retired Neurologist Battles Alzheimer’s
- 19 The Forest, the Trees and the Ground Beneath My Feet
- 20 What’s in a Name? Alzheimer’s Reimagined
- 21 A Meaningful Outcome
- Epilogue: The Writing Life
- Epilogue: The Writing Life, Act II
- Appendix:
- Resources
- Index
- References
Summary
I am a retired neurologist with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. Although I cared for many patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias during my career, it never occurred to me that I might one day have it too. I do. So now I’m on the patient’s side of the experience, an expert from the inside out on my own early-stage Alzheimer’s as it stakes out its slowly growing presence in my brain
The operative phrase here is “slowly growing.” Most Alzheimer’s patients are diagnosed when symptoms of the disease show up in their behavior or cognitive functioning – they may seem noticeably “off” to those who know them or to themselves. That’s typically around the time that the damage to brain cells has become moderate to severe. I found mine much earlier because I went looking for it. It was a fluke, really, that I stumbled across some genetic information that prompted my clinical search.
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- Chapter
- Information
- A Tattoo on my BrainA Neurologist's Personal Battle against Alzheimer's Disease, pp. 1 - 9Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023