Thank you, Annie! I made sure my mother had her vitamin levels tested, and basic kidney and liver test, too. She has an excellent neurologist, and she has been very good about doing all the things I make her do. She thinks I'm a master diagnostician, and has been very patient about my every new idea. She does have Graves'--she's had it for about 50 years--and she's good about having her thyroid levels checked regularly. The thing is, she took care of her own mother, who had Alzheimer's, for many years. Her biggest nightmare was that she would get it herself and be a burden to other people. So as you can imagine, she is falling apart.

My promise to her was to help take care of one of my sisters and her family, which I'm doing. This has been very good for me emotionally, because at the same time that I'm having to reinvent (or at least redefine!) myself because of the disease, my kids are growing up. I had babies and toddlers for so many years, and someone needed me all the time. This is wearing, as you can imagine, but it makes you feel, well, needed. Suddenly I can't take care of people and no one needs me in the same way. Taking care of my sister and her kids is a temporary throw-back to the old days. But after my sister is on her feet, I will have to face the new me again.

I did spend some weeks with a therapist talking through this stuff. I liked talking about it, and maybe it helped, but I started to feel like it was time to stop analyzing my life, and just start living it, if you know what I mean.

Thanks. All of this is very helpful to me.

Abby