Ron Gooden: The Journey of Resilience, Living with MCI

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I started noticing that just forgetfulness, well, we not talking about just leaving the keys

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somewhere else, so I did, I need my cell phones somewhere else.

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There are a lot of major things. My language was a big thing. The word that should have gone

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right there in a sentence and in a delivery, but you know, and as a teacher, the cows

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professor, you know, that's a bit unsettling to say at least.

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And now the podcast we're together, we discuss proactive aging on your terms, connecting to the

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professional advice of our special guests, while creating better days throughout the aging process.

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Now here's your host, Mark Turnbull. Hello everyone and I want to welcome everybody back to

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another lively discussion on aging today. We are the podcast where we explore the many options to

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aging on your terms. You can find aging today and all of our past eight years of programs

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on our website. All you got to do is go to agingtoday.us and then for those of you that want to follow us

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on your favorite Spotify or podcast channels such as Spotify, Pandora, Apple, I Heart, there's so

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many out there, YouTube that you can always check in with us as well. And then we want to hear from you

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our listeners out there and all you got to do is reach out to me, your host, Mark Turnbull,

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and my email is mark@agingtoday.us. It's mark with a K at agingtoday.us. So as you know, this is a

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in podcast about aging and it's we always say that if you're not too busy being born, you're too

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busy aging and it doesn't matter what age and we all have issues through the aging process so we try

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to touch on all of those things. But one of the aging dilemmas that we all face in this world is

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many of us are facing a huge population is dementia and we're going to be talking about a specific

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type of dementia today. It's Alzheimer's and here to tell us about his journey living with Alzheimer's

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is Ron Gooden. Ron, welcome to agingtoday. Thank you, Mark. Let it be here.

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Yeah, I'm very, very excited to have you on our podcast today and I'm anxious to hear your story.

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But what we always do, Ron, is that we always ask the question, what is in your story? What led you

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just kind of give us a brief synopsis of your life story and what brought you to this place where

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you are today? Wow, kind of literally Christ. Let me talk about me who I am. I'm an eight-year-old man.

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Marry for three years. And you're looking good there, my man. But actually, I'm 57 years married to

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my best friend and three middle-aged children, two grandchildren. I've been working 60 years

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pretty much full-time. That includes my time in the Navy about 20 years teaching at Community College

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in Philadelphia about 20 years as a sales manager with New York Life Insurance Company.

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And you spread out 15 or 20 other years being a counselor, therapist, life coach. Also,

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by the way, I'm grateful, very grateful, hand to survivor. I think in about as much of a nutshell,

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Mark, as I can make that these 60 years are probably, that's about it.

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It sounds like you've lived a full life and it's been a lot of challenges. Just like anybody's story,

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there's all kinds of villains that freely roam in and out of our story lines. And oh my goodness,

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battling the cancer. What type of cancer did you have? It was prostate cancer, Mark.

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prostate cancer. And is it clear now? Eight years. Clear of it.

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Nice. Very well done. Oh great. Yeah. Yeah. And now you're facing another villain in your life.

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It's called MCI for those of you don't know what MCI is. It's mild cognitive impairment.

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And so I'd like you to let's we're going to unpack that today and we're going to spend some time

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talking about your specific journey dealing with Alzheimer's is what you've been diagnosed with.

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Is that correct? That's correct. Absolutely correct. Yeah. So in your story,

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when was it that you started to begin to see some of the symptoms that were saying, hey,

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there's something going on here? About four years ago, Mark, I just I start noticing that

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just forgetfulness. Well, we not talking about just leaving the keys somewhere else. So I need my cell

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phone with somewhere else. We know about major things. You can introduce me to somebody in five minutes,

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not hours a day, five minutes from name. I make the name is slip my mind. My language was a big

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thing. The word that should have gone right there in a sentence and in a delivery, you know,

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fortunately at my age, I could manage a five turn dance around and find other words that you

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can fit in there. But you know, and as a teacher, the college professor, you know, that's a bit unsettling

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to say at least, I can remember a time when, which I think this is the first big hit I'm teaching a class

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lecture, it right in the middle of the mess, I don't got where I was. What the heck? So I can't even imagine

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the cold silence that came over everything. These are grown-ups, pants already, or computer-graded

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for me to say something wise and bang. And it was like a fall. I tried to kind of bring it back

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further away, it seemed to have gotten from me. Fortunately, the class, you know, I looked at

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all of them like I'm all, forgive me, class, I'm an old guy and they snickered and I'm sure they didn't.

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But for me, it was kind of devastating right at that moment. That's kind of what I knew,

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this is, I've been teaching 20 years, I've got 95,000 classes into them, this. Whoa,

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and I could bring it back quicker. You know, it's like memory laughs. I could always bring it back

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easily. This one somehow grins. So that's what I knew. I have a problem. And

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wrote me a verdict of all of the sounders and friends who suffered sadly and the people who were

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cared for, and for them, also friends, telling me how awful that was. So yeah, I had known about it,

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never thought it would eat me, honestly, and down. Yeah, just to think of it.

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When you started noticing some of the changes in your speech patterns and you were starting to

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notice some of the forgetfulness and the loss of words, who did you go to first? You know,

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you've been married for 57 years and congratulations. I mean, that's remarkable in this day and age.

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And I'm assuming your wife, you know, if I can be presumptuous is probably your best friend,

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did you go to her first and what was her response? Well, first thought, oh, that's selective memory loss.

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Wives, that's a thing because you see, you see, you remember when the game is coming on, you see

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the remembers, you know, he went there like, but that was early on. He had to stay note herself. Yeah,

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maybe I'll see somebody, you know, all right, so I get it. So we both noticed it. I noticed it because

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it impact it had to be directly one eyeball, the eyeball with people and especially students.

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But she started, she had to admit, this is more of their selective memory. So why don't you see

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somebody going back? We did. I say we because after 57 years, me, it's like everything's weak.

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And when you're a doctor, a doctor whom we love that been a doctor for years, he concluded,

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but don't worry about it. And you're ready to get an old.

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And I can say, I love and respect my doctor. I come to the conclusion

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and I'm spoken to him about it. Later on, he just sees me as a vigorous kind of guy.

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And my plate doesn't seem as obvious maybe as somebody who's, you know, really,

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a little, little, little almost really, they're really lost in that fog that I talked to you about.

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And so it didn't seem that way to him. And he's up at all. I said, Doc,

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and basically says something like if it continues like this, but you're going to find that it's

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part of aging. I'm not doing it.

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I think it's really important to recognize that that kind of forgetfulness is not a part of normal

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aging process because there's so many people out there that live into their 80s and 90s

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and even early hundreds that don't have some, you know, there's going to be a little bit of that

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loss. But when you're talking about the brain fog and all of those things, it's interesting that

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your doctor, you know, kind of, you know, downplayed it a little bit. How did that make you feel?

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It made me, you know, less than it made me want to, the kind of flick happens.

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If he'd been some other doctor, we didn't know how it'd have thought that doctor is being

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really not for fasting, number one, to soften that blow. And maybe not knowledgeable. That would have

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kind of had me proceed on saying that, you know, maybe you know, we did a new doctor, but our doctor,

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we love our doctor. He's been that one for years. I learned a different number. He'd see him.

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He knows me so well. He does so well. And all he's seen of me was bigger. All he's seen is me

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with somebody, "Ah, go with enthusiasm." And he kind of looked at it like that. He's

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anyway. All of those things. He was trying to put a positive spirit on it. Don't worry about it.

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Don't get stressed over it. Yeah. And there's some, there's some truth to that. You know, I think that's

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important. You know, I wouldn't want to diss on your doctor right now. But, you know, they think

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that there's some of that that is true, that, you know, you do want to maintain a positive,

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positive attitude. And did he, did he immediately then, so we didn't immediately do anything,

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then the next step was you left the doctor's office. And then when did you go back and say, "Duck,

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it's getting progressively worse?" I need a second opinion here.

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Sorry, cutting out a lot. I didn't even go back at that point on the front side of this thing.

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I'm saying, let me, you know, I'm the kind of guy who I'm always asking as a, there was a cancer,

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once you diagnose, all right, what's next? What is next? I'm just, I feel like that. Yeah.

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So I started looking internet, all kinds of play, asking people, well, I ended landing on a study

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that was happening. Study of memory, sounded all good between whatever, 165 and 80, anybody

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can find themselves suffering from memory loss. Call it. I called them, turns out the study was way,

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like, two hours away, but it was important enough for me. Call them, let me go check it out,

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my wife and then I jumped into the car, they had, so at this point I had been diagnosed, right?

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Must have been two days worth of things that they go through to make a proper diagnosis.

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And after they told me, you know, of course they talked about

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plaque, all that, what's gonna happen, so on the brand stuff. But let us see where you're at.

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And that's when just a whole pattern, testings, be it the card testings, verbal writing testings,

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and they had me get a PET scan and, um, MRI, it makes sure it wasn't like an organic thing,

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bi and bi after a while, two weeks of that, that was, I was, an extra bit of official diagnosis

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of all of some, but fantastic to do that. Um, so okay, and here's what we do. He would, Dr.

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went on to say, first of all, kudos to you Ron, for not just buying this, I'd say everyone,

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or by the way, uh, Mark, it helps. Yeah, one of my dearest friends who we have a kind of, we live in a car,

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well, my dearest friend who was a judge, who kind of judge now is stark as a cat. So again, I'd be,

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he's a guy that's bringing the flat is so dark, was he can tell the joke, a complicate, and bring it

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whole just among the things that this game above, but I watch him, he's one of my poker guys, every Monday,

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night, we have a poker damn. And two or three of these guys, they're all at my age. The judge is 83,

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you know, and so, whoa, I know that this is an automatic. I knew that and my doctor, Mr. Ray study,

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confirmed all that. He didn't talk about, yeah, you know, there is some leakage, right,

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some for many people in the middle, but no need for you to just kind of fall back, rattling, and then they

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start the conversation around, um, ours is going to medicate you on what habits, one of support,

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uh, one of all kinds of little things you can do in the meantime, along with, I mean, sort of program,

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along with the medication, we, we say you would be happy with that basically, we say you'll see

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improvement, certainly we don't expect to see a falling, but decline in where you are now. That

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was the expectation. That was three and a half years ago, hard. And I've been going every two weeks,

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my wife and I, my wife had to be involved in counting the real thing. We go take that to a ride up. I,

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I can go on and on. I don't know where the questions will go now. I have a feeling that you

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want to go deeper into that process. The fact is, it can say at this point that, man, I feel

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go good. I feel so fortunate. I feel confident that I can do stuff that there for a time. I say,

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you know what? My professional life is kind of over because I had this thing and that's kind of,

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I looked at it, it's now been determined that I do in fact have this thing that won't allow me to

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do the kinds of stuff that I like to. At one point, by the way, I thought about retiring and going into

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doing speaking about motorbades, motorbades must be at one point. That's, that's the thing,

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that is totally, yeah. And so, and it's okay. That's going now. There's some things I can do,

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absolutely well in some things that probably not a good idea for me to do. I've come to that

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real easy. And that's okay. Now, so, so let me just be clear. So you started going to this clinic

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that had a specific program that helped you with your MCI, your mild cognitive impairment.

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Can you share with us a little bit about, and then you've since then, this was three and a half

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years ago, correct? That you started going. So since then, you've seen a remarkable improvement

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or a stabilization, what's the best way to say that of your MCI? Certainly stable,

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pralining, right? It's more stable. It's not getting, it's not growing more confusion, more

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brain fog. It's kind of stabilized. You still struggle with this thing. I'm still struggling

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with some of those things. There's no doubt. Yeah. But yes.

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So, so what when when you went to the clinic and they said, hey, we've got some assistance

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that can help you to live your best life possible, do they do describe what that, what the

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specifics are that they did? Did they do like activities? Did they do brain games? Did they do,

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were you doing pushups all day long? What did they have you do to help stabilize?

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If not physical pushups, we're calling brain pushups. Okay. Your challenge is all about making my brain

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work a little harder, making my brain think out of the box. Things like, when you hold,

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run, walk around in the dark, don't run, walk around in the dark. Man, it seemed like a small thing,

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but it forces your brain to not be so tied into convenience. If you're right handed,

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use your left hand as often as you can. Besides the brain games, you know, I'm getting that

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for every way now. My daughters are doctor living in Vegas and she's sent me all kinds of brain

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games, but they all get all works because it's all about challenging your brain. I come into

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a cleanly in the lot because I was there for a minute and still sometime, the easiest thing

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for us all that got us to do, this is kind of close back, that if we don't get it right away,

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instantly is gone. So we hardly ever challenge our brain. And I know that we're slowly, we're

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all the ever challenging because it's easy. The other part of your brain is saying, "Why do you

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need this now? You're creating an over." I'm so glad I don't, as much, I don't often get more

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listened to that lazy part of my brain. It's very comfortable, but it listens to my opportunities.

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And I'm still even at 80. I find myself still kind of in an opportunity mode.

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Realistically. So it's just that, I still think I can do some stuff. I won't be able to do

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motivational speaking. I still have clients. He's still in me.

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Well, Ron, I'm going to challenge you on that thought that you are doing motivational speaking

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right now. So you're speaking to an audience out there and there's others that are living

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right alongside of you. And your inspiration is motivational. Thank you. So you are doing it.

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So I guess I may, but yeah, I agree and appreciate and value being able to say something that

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makes somebody else better maybe than they were. It's somebody comfortable than they were.

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And I can see that in your countenance that that's who you are, Ron. You've lived

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80 years on this planet. And you've, I can sense that in you that you're an outward, you view the

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world outwardly. You don't view the world inwardly that it's all about, Ron. This is, this is about

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you being a part of a greater story out there because we all have our stories. And you're just

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living yours out. And this villain came along called MCI and is interrupted your story. But that's

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nothing new because you had another villain called cancer, prostate, Mr. prostate. And you know,

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you took it head on and you don't seem to be the kind of guy that is blaming everybody else for

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all the different adventures that you've been on. You've embraced them. You've taken them and

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looked at them square in the face and said, uh-uh, not on my terms, no way. So I really appreciate

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you about you. Yeah, you're, you pretty much describe my desire to be better than to make the

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world a little bit better because, you know, be that person that you, what the world, be that change

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you want to see in the world. And I was raised with my dad is my biggest hero ever. And my mother was

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like a saint in the state. And so I'm got nothing to worry about. I got no reason not to be accountable.

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I got really, you know, people are right. How can I not be a reasonably decent human being?

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That's all I saw around me. And as I said, my dad is my superman. And he was that kind of a guy. And

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certainly so with my mom. And I think that is so important that we have our role models. And our heroes

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are, you know, not the sports heroes out there in our lives. They're, they're amazing people, yes.

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But the real heroes in our life are, our mothers, our fathers, the family, siblings, and those people

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that are really mean something to us that are not fickle. And, and I'm so glad that I get to hear

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that part of your story, Ron, because as you know, our culture is missing that today. And the reason

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why you want to have a strong family. And I want the young people to hear this. I'm 67, Ron. I'm

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right on your tail. And you're at the front of the baby boomers. I'm at the tail end of the baby

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boomers. And if there was anything that I could tell to the younger generation, I know you would say

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the same thing is an embrace family, embrace honor your mother and your father, whatever that means

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to you, find a way because as you age, the only people that you're going to stick around you and

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close by to you is it's called blood, the bloodline. Amen. Amen. Yeah.

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Keep the main things, the main things. And that is, are those people already done and then so much

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in your life, even when it pain them, you know, I just, you know, I get it. I thank God all the time that I

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seemed to understand the main things and make things you talked about making sure those things. And

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the understanding that you get what you give out here and that, it's so happening, it's just giving

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things. I have, I am so inspired by being able to help. And anyway, like I say, my phone rings

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a couple times a day, sometimes we, we, we're doing these friends or others who really see the respect

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my little counsel and all rings are when it's just kind of kicking it around. My optimism, yeah,

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is what seems to lift. Otherwise, I would stop the hookahack I think I am

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counseling people talking about people who's in try to lift them up. But people keep calling

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it makes me a humbly and okay, something about my style seems to work. And I think it can be my

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intellectual after care, my good loves you can't it must be my optimism and gratitude.

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Did you know that Alzheimer's disease cases are projected to rise from 6 million to 13 million

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Americans by 2050? Because Alzheimer's disease often remains under diagnosed, many Americans may not

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know they have it. This did you know moment was provided by today's guest and is brought to you by

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Royal Hospice of Oregon. Yeah. And and I think that, you know, one of the things that as we all face the

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various villains in our life at some portion down the road, whatever that journey leads for you as an

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individual, there are certain heroes that come into our lives that shore us up. And we need that. You

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cannot do this alone. And I want to hear a little bit about your best friend, your lover, your wife

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of 57 years and the impact that she made on your life to encourage you to go forward and I'm being

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presumptuous. Maybe she didn't. But I don't think that's the case in this situation. Tell us about her.

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She won't let me bail. Finish it. Yeah. Well, this is a chance to brag about her. Not will. I just

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am I easiest behind every I always say behind every good man is a great woman again. Let us say I

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watch in my father and my grandfather and dad, my son. I've seen that how that works. A communication

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respect.

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Determination working together. You know, just take what they say like this, or can we say take the

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L the Lawrence take the L from time to time as you know, I mean, just not. But my wife has from the day,

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maybe a few days after she you know, you see it in stories. I was in it very quickly. I was in

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the Navy when I met her. She was about 1819. Guess I was robbing the cradle. And I was on hold on to

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you met her and about I was 20, 20, one, one, one, one, one, two, you know, get at the service in 22.

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She was asking on a date, we all on picnic. She had a date. I had a date and others had a date.

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And I just loved the way she wrote. But my friend was her date. But at that time, I just liked her style.

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I was, I could see she was smart, but not a smart answer if you know what I mean. She was smart. Yeah.

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And just played in when smart needed to happen. Just responded when a response needed to happen.

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She just fit. No.

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And see that. Well, was I taking by her? It doesn't matter. I went back on to the Navy,

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forget wherever station in California, so in Long Beach, with back.

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I finished up my term. I had her online line more every single day as I was okay.

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I'd give back. First thing I do is contact my friend, which he had moved on. But I found a guy

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and tell me, how are you and you and Sandy? I'm fully again, like, oh, you've been married all by now.

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Somebody smart, a scoop to run. He said, oh, no, Sandy, I would just feel she in the brain.

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But we just friend, you came to the picnic. Do you know what she's at now?

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Did my investigation order out the rest of the history? She makes me feel

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a lie. It makes me feel better. She always has.

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Made me feel like a better man than I probably am.

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Don't do kind of thing. And the failures I've had, you know, those demons out there

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that I may want to come in and why and I don't get it. You've got no problem. It's not you.

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Don't live down to that. Please, look up to the radio show. He's been pushing me,

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everything including this, including the cancer thing, every down that I've ever taken, he was there

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to lift me up. And, you know, we got to a point where she doesn't have a way out about it.

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She just reminds me a way about this man that she loves and this best friend of hers.

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And she got no problem telling me the reason you love this guy. And so she can't really accept

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this guy doing this other way. So yeah, she's in the back, in the back.

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And so it's been a journey of 57 years for better, for worse. And you went through the cancer,

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now you're going through the MCI, the mild cognitive impairment. And she's still standing beside you.

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And that's got to be a huge encouragement to you or anybody that is living through any kind of

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long-term chronic illness or disease is knowing that the people that mean so much to you are

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walking right alongside of you. I can't. I think so much of whatever success I've had in anything

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is to kind of show off for her, kind of be the person that he's seen as always think

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that I could be and was. So dropping the ball was kind of that. I cannot show my wife. And not

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to see how to put it to me like that if you don't do it. Never that is my own personal

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place I had to live up to because she, I don't know, foolishly or not, she's always out of me

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on rare, on some kind of high places for good men to go. And so that was the goal. And even that kind of

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encouragement meant that you didn't have to tell me all the times. It wasn't we knew. I could look at

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her and see either she to look at her and see pride. And going up is more than I could.

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Let's shift gears here a little bit and go back to the clinic. And so your wife is beside you.

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She's supporting you through this whole process. And you get to the clinic and the clinic saying,

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okay, let's see what we can do to stabilize or improve upon your memory, your memory loss.

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And see if we can get rid of the brain fog. So they put you on a regiment of activities,

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brain activities, all kinds of red men. I get IV of a, of a girl called lecandie the first.

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So it was a combination of activities and then they also introduced a pharmaceutical

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medication that would also assist in that. So what's the name of the medication?

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Lecandie L-A-Q-E-M-B-I Lecandie. That's the medication. I take IV every two weeks and I go,

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but the first six months to now is this on a trial that you're doing it? Are you doing it through a study?

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Yes. Or was this something that's already been done and they just prescribed it to you?

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This is a study, but this medication has been approved. The FDA goes only two medications I understand

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that have been thoroughly approved by all the National E-Pool on the same likely FDA and the American

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M-A-M-A. So it's been approved for this. I'm sure there are a lot of companies trying to introduce

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their thing. I have no doubt that five years from now there'll be several more proofs right now

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in the campaign. There's a crew as an adjunct to metal plants, mental games, mental stressors,

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things that get society. Mental brain exercises. You have a certain aim that making your brain

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get off the couch. Yeah, all the plaques and the tangles that are

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destroying the brain cells is what's going on. That's a...

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And so a combination of the therapies of brain activities, the combination of some medication,

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and you've seen over the last three and a half years a remarkable progression

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in the positive direction. I have. And I hesitate because I know first I'd have to say this has been

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my dream, you know, I don't know that it's probably to say the conveyer, all the same thing for you.

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Yeah, you should go do that. You should go do that. But my dream has shown a remarkable

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improvement from just three and a half years ago when I thought, "Ah, it's over, I'm at it. I'm

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going to retire." Thank God I could afford to retire. Certainly not a hefty financially,

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but I get afford to retire. And then it made it even easier to say, you know what?

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My brain's gone like this already. You had at that time, 76 or 77. But that didn't last.

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This month, with my life loving me on, you're not, and things, you're not, no, you're not as happy

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when you're not vigorous when you're not. And I mean, not just physically vigorous,

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mentally vigorous when you can't be of help. Yeah. Where there are any other therapies that they

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interjected into your life, in other words, whether some lifestyle changes that you were having to

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take a look at, in particular, I was thinking of diet. So did they change your diet?

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Because there's a lot of research out there in regards to diet. Well, certainly they suggested

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the sugars, the salts kind of play down on them just because they're not processed food,

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just because they're just generally not healthy. And when you're generally not healthy in one way,

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it sort of spans over to other ways. So then exercise regularly exercise, make sure

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add up. Have you done that all of your life in a regular exercise or stayed in a relative shape?

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But they didn't have to meet you up with that one. If you were to describe your eating habits,

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you know, in the first 60, 70 years of your life, how would you describe them? I have a sweet tooth.

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You and me both. Right there, I'm sure I've eaten too much sugar. I had the

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beat down on my fingers because I get everything you read talks about this thing that we have marked.

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We got in that, that's younger, don't even with this, we too figure out some other things you can do.

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And listen to it more minimally. And I think if it's in your mind, you will kind of back off a little bit.

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Really, really. I didn't, I now have connected that to a decreasing memory.

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So you're like, whoa, so maybe I would do, we get ice cream with man. Maybe once the big sprups

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instead of two is those things that are happening all the time. Maybe one glass of lemonade instead of two is that.

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It's kind of the way I'm dealing with it. You know, so still there's the sweet tooth.

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And still there's these memory glasses.

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Yeah. And you mentioned processed foods where you a big processed food consumer that you could

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do fast food, restaurants, it's a great. So we really,

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ways that we've been empty nestled, we really, we had a period and we were going out to eat

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at rest of our all the time because empty nesters get to do that.

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But we that period is gone. We mostly, I mean 85% of the time, 90, I mean wheels,

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by wise meal. So, yeah, I don't think I've

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well, and you and you were a part of that generation where more whole foods and were consumed.

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There wasn't a lot of discretionary money to go around to go out to restaurants.

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Yeah. And, you know, and that's way I was raised as well. I tell that to my children and they go

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really. You only went to one, one fast food. We used to have in Hillsboro, Oregon. It was

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A and W root beer, you know, that was our big thing. And then when we'd go visit my mom,

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or my dad's mom and dad, my grandparents in Salem, we'd stop off at Bob's 19 cent hamburgers.

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And that was, that was the extent of going out for us. It wasn't, wasn't a lot on a schoolteacher salary.

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There wasn't a lot of extra income. That is time, maybe, to generate some, because that

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we mostly, yeah, yeah. And so for that, for us, for you and me, that was good, you know, that paid off

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in the long run because I remember mom and her mom, they did a lot of canning and of their own

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fruits and vegetables and, you know, so things were a lot more wholesome back in those days. And then

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we got away from that, obviously in the 70s and the 80s, but we're, and we're, I think we're seeing

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the effects of that long term. Yeah, dad and dad, just, I'm going all the way around, but the things I see

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around me, that, you know, and go, BC is just one of the things I see in the world as I've

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done to harass students, as I say, but, you know, hard problems. Yeah, many, many, many, many physical,

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which move on to mental and emotional and spiritual problems. They just bring them right down

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the path. And it's a clear path. We don't, we don't even need much read me. We don't even

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need all of them. We just have it. But I enjoy a big mat some time to time.

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Yes, you do. Well, I think we all do. And, you know, I think there's, it's moderation, you know,

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I think that just like anything else in life is the moderation. But so, so you have this, you

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go into the clinic and they've got you on some, some brain exercises, your brain push ups as you

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call it, love that term. And then they've also got you on this medication. And then there's some

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lifestyle changes that you've thrown into the mix as well. And a combination of all those things

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has helped reduce your MCI or stabilize it. Do you, where, where are you at in the journey right now?

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Great question. Because friends ask me my age. What? How's that memory thing? I need to get

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nothing like that because we all forget stuff for my age. And I don't think theirs has been as

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I don't think the dive was as heavy as mine or they would have made, these are those people,

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these are for example, people that are friends are like, they would have made steps. I think,

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so I tell them when you say, are you better? They won't take it that simple. Well, I still forget stuff.

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But I am so confident about pretty much everything going full. So that's where it's left me. This

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combination of the medication, the treatment, the brain game, the lifestyle, the support I get from

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my team there at the brain thing, because they continue to say things like, "Rod, look at you."

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What? I don't even see any days that I don't even see this relax and these are people in,

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I'm sure they're saying a lot of this to me, making me feel good, but it does. It works.

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You know, I don't see any deficiencies in you. All of that has yielded

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mark a confidence that I can do pretty much what I did five, four, five, years ago. I haven't even

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separated from what I can't do other than motivational features. You know, I just realistically

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think for any audience that particular issue like bringing an idea home is important. You know,

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and I really want to waste anybody's time, I can do that kind of stuff individual like you were saying.

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But the plan I had about more than me, I met at a thousand people. I was thought to certainly a hundred.

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So that was going to be my retirement. And I was so from my thought, it was from 75 to

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75, where I must tell God is me that was going to be the thing I did because I've done something like that,

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but so long. You know, but yeah, I'm confidence is what a year because I don't see

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the problems not lingering. And by the way, they also give me little notes, little things to do

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about listening better. Don't take notes. You ought to see my dance at the office. It's riddled with

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my little notes. Copies notes. That's like all of a sort of camp down. So I have my note. So I don't

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mind saying also, which you say, I don't get what was my name again. Don't be in a place where even though

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you have this limitation that you're now afraid of it too. I'll be exactly turns out people don't mind at all.

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You're within my life now. I have the same. So now I do that from the start. You know, I listen better

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to things I should remember. I like my notes. I don't mind going there. I don't mind a

368
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popular. What was your name again? Please brain blame my head, not my heart. You know,

369
00:46:29,440 --> 00:46:36,640
you look, come on, the phrases I've got is around that. So with that, and this definite feeling of

370
00:46:36,640 --> 00:46:44,160
not going backwards, whether I'm level up for now, I definitely not feel like I'm going backwards.

371
00:46:44,160 --> 00:46:47,920
I feel maybe like I'm better.

372
00:46:51,040 --> 00:46:59,520
Yeah. That's got to feel really good. Which kind of leads me to my next question for you as a man

373
00:46:59,520 --> 00:47:08,960
and spending your time with your best friend, your wife. Do you have a bucket list?

374
00:47:08,960 --> 00:47:18,000
While your mind is one thing about chronic illnesses and diseases is they're interruptors.

375
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They can interrupt our lives to where they take away our dreams, our aspirations, the things that

376
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we want to continue to do in life. And you're that kind of a person that says, uh, uh, not on my watch,

377
00:47:33,920 --> 00:47:41,760
not on my terms. Do you have a bucket list of things that you and your wife would like to be doing

378
00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:45,360
for the next 10, I do not. I do not.

379
00:47:45,360 --> 00:47:54,560
I have a specific bucket list. I seem to be living that life that I hope you're living in the bucket

380
00:47:54,560 --> 00:48:00,800
right now. As I say, maddening my friends and my daughters living family in Vegas and her little love

381
00:48:00,800 --> 00:48:07,920
that my son is about to be making get mad at a second time. Is that December the 7th of this

382
00:48:07,920 --> 00:48:11,040
year, he's going to get back to his own widow. First wife, he lost his first wife,

383
00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:22,720
grandkids, everybody in the wonderful, everybody's well, everybody's, uh, I am living. I'm like over the

384
00:48:22,720 --> 00:48:32,720
moon right here. I really have my fantastic. Is there anything that you would want to pass on to those

385
00:48:32,720 --> 00:48:40,080
that are just beginning to understand that they're living with some mild cognitive impairment or

386
00:48:40,800 --> 00:48:49,040
some early onset, dementia's of various kinds? Is there anything that of wisdom that you can bring

387
00:48:49,040 --> 00:49:00,400
up to them? Obviously don't let that thought stop. Don't yet help reach out. There's helped more

388
00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:05,440
and more and more seniors because so many of us now, you talked about it, that baby boom,

389
00:49:05,440 --> 00:49:12,240
that's so mad. So now I expect five years from now as I said earlier that he'll be central.

390
00:49:12,240 --> 00:49:19,760
Things like the Kember and there'll be several programs. But you gotta reach out. I mean,

391
00:49:19,760 --> 00:49:26,320
not going to jump into your lap and not going to knock on your door. So I would say don't settle

392
00:49:27,680 --> 00:49:36,160
for settling. Don't don't live in a hole of free to express your condition,

393
00:49:36,160 --> 00:49:44,800
afraid to express that you need help and say no, just like somebody, all of a sudden their knees

394
00:49:44,800 --> 00:49:51,040
not working. Whatever they love to get, I need replacement for shoulder replacement. This may,

395
00:49:51,040 --> 00:49:59,680
may seem like a drastic different, but maybe not. There is a next step in which day in 2024,

396
00:49:59,680 --> 00:50:06,320
there is a next step. And I'm on by to you absolutely with a test to get help. Don't be.

397
00:50:06,320 --> 00:50:14,800
Yeah. And I think it's harder for us men. Men have a harder time of letting go of our belief systems.

398
00:50:14,800 --> 00:50:20,480
We were the ones that built and pulled ourselves up by our own bootstraps. That's how our

399
00:50:20,480 --> 00:50:27,200
our dads taught us to live our lives. And the downside to that is that sometimes our belief systems

400
00:50:27,200 --> 00:50:32,560
get in the way and we become stubborn and we go, I don't need to go see a doctor. I can work this

401
00:50:32,560 --> 00:50:39,360
out. I've worked it out all my life and it'll all turn out. And that's not the case. You, we,

402
00:50:39,360 --> 00:50:45,520
at some point, you've got to be humble enough to be able to say, hey, I need some help. And you did

403
00:50:45,520 --> 00:50:53,920
that. And so now you're a living, you're a living legend by being humble enough to say, hey, I need

404
00:50:53,920 --> 00:51:01,840
a little assistance. That right. I'm, I'm, what kind of. And I'm sure your wife kicked you in

405
00:51:01,840 --> 00:51:07,120
there. No, not as well. Right. You would not, like, they allowed, they allowed us to,

406
00:51:07,120 --> 00:51:13,840
that she already thought, yeah, I've already seen you do that at some point. I've already seen

407
00:51:13,840 --> 00:51:21,120
you master that at some point. So don't bail out, you know, do that always grateful for that

408
00:51:21,120 --> 00:51:29,040
head that little nudge. And it so far has always turned out that that fall is just an experience.

409
00:51:29,040 --> 00:51:32,960
Just an experience. It makes me stronger along those lines. Come on, it's all.

410
00:51:32,960 --> 00:51:40,560
Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, in conclusion, you know, we're, we're going to wind up our interview

411
00:51:40,560 --> 00:51:47,360
here. And I, I, I remarkable story. And I want to say, thank you so much for taking the time to come

412
00:51:47,360 --> 00:51:52,640
on and share it with the rest of the world because there are so many people that are in the same

413
00:51:52,640 --> 00:51:58,160
position that you are. And they may not have the support system that you've had. I mean, you've

414
00:51:58,160 --> 00:52:04,800
been blessed with a beautiful wife and children and a lot of great friends. And for those that,

415
00:52:06,000 --> 00:52:13,360
that have found themselves in the same situation, is there any lasting advice other than saying,

416
00:52:13,360 --> 00:52:17,600
go get the help? But is there anything else that you'd like to share with them?

417
00:52:17,600 --> 00:52:23,040
Remind them that we, you know, they've lived long, probably if they're in the state,

418
00:52:23,040 --> 00:52:30,880
they're probably not 25 years old, right? Love. You've already noted how in your lifetime,

419
00:52:30,880 --> 00:52:38,160
when one door shut, another one's open, consider that like this. The door that we shut was, it was,

420
00:52:38,160 --> 00:52:49,360
one that was convenient, one that was, it was uncomplicated. You didn't have to remember stuff if

421
00:52:49,360 --> 00:52:55,200
you didn't have to remember because of the job, because of that, it was stuck there, you know?

422
00:52:56,640 --> 00:53:02,800
You should have reached, you're reaching. And you know, I'd have reached like crazy, maybe a little

423
00:53:02,800 --> 00:53:09,280
reach for you for that person, then maybe not used to being in reach mode. It's so happened,

424
00:53:09,280 --> 00:53:18,000
I was kind of into reach mode, right? Getting that. But if you're not, a guarantee is, got to be better

425
00:53:19,520 --> 00:53:26,480
with this kind of help, then now you've got to make better with this kind of, you know, if you fall

426
00:53:26,480 --> 00:53:32,160
back into any kind of habit, you wouldn't even get thought that would be better with this kind of

427
00:53:32,160 --> 00:53:41,520
support. Yeah. Yeah. You've got such an interesting story and you're an interesting personality,

428
00:53:41,520 --> 00:53:49,360
you know, you're, I loved having this conversation with you. Is there, is there anything in the future?

429
00:53:49,600 --> 00:53:55,920
Are you going to write a book and tell your story is, you know, made for movie? What, what do you think?

430
00:53:55,920 --> 00:54:03,040
Wow. At this point, I'll admit, I'm taking it kind of day to time. There are things that come up

431
00:54:03,040 --> 00:54:14,800
like this, Mark, which I'm humble by, that somebody wants to use my other story to help somebody

432
00:54:14,800 --> 00:54:26,480
else, that part of it makes me all in. Yeah. So if ever, whenever my story of somebody else, I know

433
00:54:26,480 --> 00:54:34,640
blessing and help become my way as they always that. So I'm really, really into being in that support

434
00:54:34,640 --> 00:54:41,920
mode. I seem to have always been in this one to me for such a loop. And I know is,

435
00:54:43,280 --> 00:54:49,280
well, whatever you're doing, whatever you're doing on the activities, the brain pushups,

436
00:54:49,280 --> 00:54:56,720
keep doing them because you're very articulate. At 80 years of age, your mind seems to be doing

437
00:54:56,720 --> 00:55:03,120
very well in spite of the challenges that are, that the obstacles that you're, you're faced with,

438
00:55:03,120 --> 00:55:11,520
with the MCI, the, the brain fog, the confusion and, you know, some of that stuff is just,

439
00:55:12,080 --> 00:55:18,960
some of that is a part of aging, but, but dementia is not part of normal aging. There's nothing

440
00:55:18,960 --> 00:55:26,240
normal about that. That is a, you know, a disease that, you know, we, we need to address and, and you've

441
00:55:26,240 --> 00:55:33,360
addressed it. And I think one of the things that I'm encouraged by is that your message is, don't sit

442
00:55:33,360 --> 00:55:41,760
back, don't give up, get in the game and get in to get some help. And there's, there's hope. I think

443
00:55:41,760 --> 00:55:49,600
that they're showing some amazing studies out there where, you know, that eventually Alzheimer's

444
00:55:49,600 --> 00:55:57,360
and other types and forms of dementia can be reversed. And it's very, very encouraging with

445
00:55:57,360 --> 00:56:02,800
the mind-telling of life. Yes, even from my perspective, your perspective even broader than my more,

446
00:56:02,800 --> 00:56:08,480
is, you know, the podcast and other things that you, but from even from my little perspective,

447
00:56:08,480 --> 00:56:15,760
of my friends and who tell me that they've had issues, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm encouraged by how much

448
00:56:15,760 --> 00:56:21,600
this whole area is, is evolving. And, you know, yeah, far, you know, yeah.

449
00:56:21,600 --> 00:56:27,120
Well, you're a living testament. And I'm going to, so thank you for being on aging

450
00:56:27,120 --> 00:56:37,440
today to share your story about living with Alzheimer's disease early on set and how you're taking it on

451
00:56:37,440 --> 00:56:44,560
head on and not backing down and you're doing it. This, this, this podcast is all about it. It's

452
00:56:44,560 --> 00:56:49,680
living your life on your terms. Thank you, sir. And I love that. That's exactly.

453
00:56:52,160 --> 00:56:59,600
And say hello to your lovely wife and thank her for allowing you to be and spend and tell your story

454
00:56:59,600 --> 00:57:06,960
to the rest of the world. And she's a significant part of that. She really is. And we often, you know,

455
00:57:06,960 --> 00:57:14,160
forget how important it is to have the right support around us, the encouragement from our loved ones.

456
00:57:14,800 --> 00:57:23,040
And you've been blessed, young man at 80 years of age to have such a beautiful wife and children

457
00:57:23,040 --> 00:57:27,520
to support you throughout this process. Thank you. And thank you. Just a blessing.

458
00:57:27,520 --> 00:57:31,840
I'm proud of you. Yeah, because you made it. Yeah. So

459
00:57:31,840 --> 00:57:37,440
is there anything else that you want to leave with our listening audience? Not really. I think

460
00:57:37,440 --> 00:57:44,560
we've said it all more. We've said it all. I love it. You know, it feels something,

461
00:57:44,560 --> 00:57:52,160
different. Yeah. It's not right to do something about it. And there's a lot of stuff to do now.

462
00:57:52,160 --> 00:57:57,440
There was a time when you're going to start something like you did. Uh oh. Well, you're just going to

463
00:57:57,440 --> 00:58:03,520
feed in the sunset. And that even goes to the physical things. And you heard, and remember, my grandparent,

464
00:58:03,520 --> 00:58:09,760
they're struggling around all their lives. We heard me. We're now, me replacement,

465
00:58:09,760 --> 00:58:15,200
a little bit of shock of whatever it is. They're short as long. Not just stuff you can do well.

466
00:58:15,200 --> 00:58:22,320
Here we are at this kind of thing. So Mark, it's been an absolute pleasure. You make this

467
00:58:22,320 --> 00:58:28,560
in this sort of engagement easy. Yeah. Well, good. Good. And Ron Gooden,

468
00:58:28,560 --> 00:58:35,600
God's blessings to you. Thank you so much for sharing your story. And, you know,

469
00:58:36,240 --> 00:58:42,000
I, I'm so grateful that I get to meet incredible people like you and you are my inspiration.

470
00:58:42,000 --> 00:58:48,080
You are my hero. And thank you for being that to the rest of the world as well. This is Mark

471
00:58:48,080 --> 00:58:54,080
Turnbull, your host. And I want to thank all of you for tuning into aging today. We are the podcast

472
00:58:54,080 --> 00:59:01,760
where together we're exploring the many options to aging on your terms, just like Ron has done on

473
00:59:01,760 --> 00:59:07,760
his terms. Join us every Monday when we release a new conversation on aging today to your favorite

474
00:59:07,760 --> 00:59:14,080
podcast channel. And remember this, we're all in the process of aging. And as we age,

475
00:59:14,080 --> 00:59:17,680
we really are better together. So stay young at heart.

476
00:59:18,320 --> 00:59:27,680
Do you make me feel so young? Do you make me feel like spring is from? And every time I see your face,

477
00:59:27,680 --> 00:59:39,680
I'm such a happy individual, the moment that you speak. I want to go play hide and seek. I want to go and bounce the moon,

478
00:59:39,680 --> 00:59:52,080
just like a toy balloon, well you and I, I'll just like a bulletots, running across the metal.

479
00:59:52,080 --> 01:00:01,680
They can have lots of, forget me night so you made me feel so young. You made me feel there are songs to be sung,

480
01:00:01,680 --> 01:00:09,280
there will still be wrong and wonderful things to be found. And even when I'm old and grey,

481
01:00:09,280 --> 01:00:16,240
you've been listening to Aging Today, where together we explore the options to aging on your terms.

482
01:00:16,240 --> 01:00:23,040
Join Mark and his guest next week for another lively discussion on proactively aging on your terms,

483
01:00:23,040 --> 01:00:28,880
connecting you to the professional advice of his special guests with the goal of creating better days

484
01:00:28,880 --> 01:00:35,120
throughout the aging process. Your host has been Mark Turnbull. Join Mark and his guest every week on

485
01:00:35,120 --> 01:00:40,720
Aging Today, your podcast to exploring your options for aging on your terms.

486
01:00:40,720 --> 01:00:47,520
And even when I'm old and grey, you make me feel the way I feel today,

487
01:00:47,520 --> 01:00:59,920
'cause you make me feel so, you make me feel so, you make me feel so young,

488
01:00:59,920 --> 01:01:11,120
so young, you make me feel so young, you make me feel so young.