The law practice was a proud Silver Sponsor of the Firecracker 5K Road Race last weekend here in Glastonbury, CT. It was the first time that all three of my boys ran in a road race together (first-ever race for the 8 year-old), so Daddy was proud! Here's a post-race shot of us with the Keenan Law banner...
I also had the pleasure of directing the Kids' 1/4-mile Fun Run before the big 5K. Geez, and I thought keeping track of developments in Medicaid eligibility rules was difficult!...
Back on October 14th I had the pleasure of directing the Apple Harvest Festival 5K Road Race right here in Glastonbury, Connecticut, which I have done for the past four years.
The race is presented by the Glastonbury Chamber of Commerce as a component of the weekend-long Apple Harvest Festival.
Despite the cool & drizzly conditions that morning we managed to draw over 460 runners for the 5K, a 1,000m youth race around Riverfont Park and a fun-run for the toddlers. That was a record turnout for us and we're already looking forward to some serious upgrades to the 2013 edition of the race. Click here for results.
I'm pictured below with Joe Aguiar, the weekday morning DJ at (one of my personal favorites) The River 105.9 FM. We were honored to have Joe as our guest emcee. He's fantastic when it comes to keeping kids entertained as they nervously await the start of their race!
I listened to a interesting report on NPR while I was running this morning. One thing that has intrigued me whenever I work with a family struggling with Alzheimer's is that the person suffering from the disease can remember, with astonishing detail, things that occurred decades ago. But then ask them what they had for breakfast and their completely stumped.
A recent study seems to indicate why. Alzheimer's tends to attack a part of the brain called the "hippocampus" which is located deep within the brain. The new research has revealed that the hippocampus is what you might call the "short-term" storage space for memories. In other words, it holds memories that go back up to three years or so. Then it essentially moves those memories to areas closer to the surface of the brain. I'm sure there are more scientific terms that can be used in this description, but it explains why short-term memories are much more of a problem for Alzheimer's patients than long-term memories. Fascinating stuff!
Click here for the full story.
If you find yourself ruminating over the state of the economy, the upcoming presidential election, oil prices, etc., then just remember that there's a bright side to everything. In this case, it's a lower chance of suffering from Alzheimer's Disease.
The results of an Israeli study were recently presented at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease, which indicated that those who spent a great deal of time worrying about work and family were significantly less likely to develop dementia later in life than those who live a more carefree, happy-go-lucky existence.
The theory is that although stressing out about such things is certainly no fun, it nonetheless stimulates the brain. There is a great deal of past research which indicates that the mind is like a muscle; the more exercise it gets the better it performs.
Click here for more on this fascinating study.
Please note that this has absolutely nothing to do with Elder Law, but it's a neat story and if you are a running and/or cycling enthusiast you might get a kick out of it. And yes, it's a true story...
I ran in the Boston Marathon last month and it took me only two minutes to spot and catch up to Lance Armstrong. I then spent most of the race running right next to, slightly behind or slightly in front of one of the most amazing athletes in the history of sports. At one point he expressed dismay to me over how many "Yankees Suck" comments I was receiving since I was sporting my Yankees cap, apologized for accidentally elbowing me, and he even took a cup of water that I offered.
But the most unforgettable memory took place at the 12-mile mark when Lance looked around and found that his two training partners had disappeared. At that point I was running slightly off one of his shoulders and decided to pull ahead of him a little bit. Once I did that I heard him say, "OK, here we go!" loud and clear just before he tucked in directly behind me. I thought to myself, OK, I might be hallucinating, but it appears that Lance Armstrong is drafting off of me! So I experimented and gradually floated over to the right side of the road and, sure enough, Lance followed me. Then I gradually headed back over to the middle of the road and he continued to follow me, staying no more than a stride and a half back! Then I came up on a slower runner and passed him on the right. At the same time Lance passed the guy on the left and then quickly tucked back in behind me! That's when I decided that, regardless of the outcome of the race, all the intense training that I've done over the past 20 years that has gotten me to the point where I could be a legitimate pace-setter for Lance Armstrong was well worth it. Due to the pure excitement I was feeling, I cranked up the pace some more and Lance was game.
Then, shortly after assigning me pace-setting duties, he moved to the left and stayed directly next to me. I assumed he was offering to do some of the work and slowed down a tad to allow him to take over, but he slowed down too and stayed beside me. Thinking I must have misread him, I sped up to resume my role as pace-setter, but he sped up as well and continued to stay next to me! I thought this was a little strange, but then suddenly realized what he was doing since we were approaching Wellesley College...he wanted nothing to do with the screaming, psychotic Wellesley women and was keeping me between him and them as a human shield! I figured hey, if you have a chance to help Lance Armstrong out with something then you go ahead and do it, and for the first time in ten Bostons I stayed in the middle of the road going by Wellesley and didn't slap a single hand.
Alas, this thrilling experience, which I won't soon forget, came to an end just past the 17-mile mark where I joined the thousands of athletes who have not figured out how to effectively deal with Lance Armstrong on the hills. After sticking with Lance for a full 17 miles, he silently bade me farewell as he successfully converted his hill-climbing prowess in the mountain stages of the Tour de France to the Newton Hills of the Boston Marathon. I was toast after pushing the last 4-mile stretch too hard but not caring since I played a small part in helping out the 7-time Tour de France champion.
I ended up walking through the water stations at the 24 and 25-mile markers and then finished solidly in 2 hours 58 minutes (Lance ended up nipping me by 7 minutes). It was my fourth fastest Boston finish and my best Boston time since 2001. So I was exhausted but pretty happy with the overall results and thoroughly enjoyed the once-in-a-lifetime Lance Armstrong experience.
After the race, I heard Lance mention to the Media that he would love to run Boston again next year. Sounds like Round #2 to me!
Thanks, Lance...it was a blast!
It looks like the medical community is tantalizingly close to developing tests for such things as cancer, heart disease and diabetes by having patients spit into a cup instead of drawing blood samples with needles.
The full article focuses on how wonderful this will be for seniors. True enough, but hey...I have three young boys at home who would be ecstatic over the concept of "sanctioned spitting" instead of being poked with needles (regardless of how many stickers and lollipops they're offered afterwards!).
Need another excuse to lose a few extra pounds, particularly around the midsection? Researchers at Kaiser Permanente have determined that people with extra belly fat in their 40's end up with a much higher risk of developing Alzheimer's in their 70's than those who have managed to avoid the love handles. This is in addition to the increased risk of diabetes, stroke and heart disease.
The risk of Alzheimer's for large-bellied folks is 2.3 times higher. Add "obese" to the "large- bellied" characterization, then the risk is 3.6 times higher. Eek! I'd better stick to my marathon running.
Full article is here.
Many of my clients struggle with dementia, but I never realized the disproportionate manner in which cancer strikes those 55 and over. According to this article from WSOC's website out of Charlotte, NC, a whopping 77% of all cancer cases diagnosed in the United States are diagnosed in those 55 years of age and older (please note that although the title of the article is "Cancer in the Elderly", I absolutely do NOT consider a 55 year-old to be elderly. Please take note, mom and dad!).
Another troubling issue pointed out in the article is that seniors have a unique set of problems when it comes to cancer treatment, such as pre-existing medical conditions, the use of many different medicines, dementia and social isolation.
Thankfully, it appears that the American medical community is taking steps to address this issue as the baby boomers continue to flood into the "over 55" category. In the meantime, valuable information on cancer prevention can be found at the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute.
It is relatively common knowledge at this point that the human brain is similar to a muscle in the sense that you need to "exercise" it in order to maintain its fitness. Many of my elderly clients regularly do puzzles (Sudoku is all the rage these days), knitting, reading, remaining in the workforce, etc., and that helps them keep their mental edge. However, I ran into some fascinating information on this issue in this Fosters.com article (from Fosters Daily Democrat, a newspaper out of New Hampshire).
Apparently up to 2/3 of cases in which autopsies are performed on elderly decedents who were mentally sharp throughout their lives, the doctors discover evidence of Alzheimer's or some other form of dementia in the decedent's brain. In other words, in these cases a Pathologist sees an Alzheimer's victim while the family saw a fully-functioning and highly-cognitive person!
This phenomenon has prompted a the theory of "cognitive reserve", which argues that by staying mentally active and stimulated, the brain is capable of producing extra neurons which compensates for dementia-related brain pathology which often occurs later in life.
And some relevant information for those of us who are not quite in the "elderly/senior" category: it's never too early for us to shore up our cognitive reserve. In fact, individuals with advanced education seem to be able to ward off cognitive decline much better than others. So intellectual stimulation in our early years can reap enormous benefits in our later years.
The message: use that brain as early as possible and as often as possible!
I recently ran across this article from ABC News in Australia reporting on a British research study which claims that cold sores triggered by the herpes simplex virus may be a "major" cause of Alzheimer's Disease.
The virus apparently creates a large amount of the same protein that comprises the plaque seen in the brain of an Alzheimer's patient.
The research team leader claims that this cold sore virus could be the cause of at least half of all Alzheimer's cases.
I suppose that the silver lining in this story is that, theoretically, a vaccine that prevents this virus could dramatically reduce the incidence of Alzheimer's cases. But the article indicates that there is currently no vaccine and the development of a effective vaccine is still "quite a long way ahead".
