The New York Times Giveth and the New York Times Taketh Away

I swear! 

Within two days the Times published one article, July 16, stating that Alzheimer’s rates were going down in Europe as the aging population grew healthier and more educated. “Yippee!” I cried,  “That has to be the same here in the US of A. Maybe I am not showing signs of dementia at all! I don't have to freak out every time I forget why I entered a room. Maybe its not the end of the world if I find the cereal in the refrigerator.” 

Talk about good news. I could possibly make it past 75 without losing it. I can put the bucket list in the waste basket for a while.

The very next day, July 17, there was another article saying that people who felt they were experiencing symptoms of dementia  eventually were diagnosed with the dread disease.

Gee,  thanks NY Times. I had almost 24 good hours.

Now I am doubling up on my worrying.  When I can’t remember whether or not I brushed my teeth or when I find the hair dryer in the laundry cupboard I can be dead certain I am headed for the dementia ward.

I’m worrying that worrying is in itself is a bad sign. So the catastrophe quotient has skyrocketed. Now even the smallest lapse in memory seems indicative of incipient Alzheimer’s. Notice the big words I used just to reassure myself that I still have a vocabulary.

Good grief, NY Times, let me alone.

So I am asking my fiends to share. I am paranoid about dementia. Are you paranoid too?

Isn’t that an Emily Dickinson poem for baby boomers?