Ch.89 Ron Reminds Pat of her Accomplishments

Ch.89 Ron Reminds Pat of her Accomplishments

          May, 2021.

          Pat and I were chatting this morning when I mentioned that her contributions to our Lewy Body book (and dialogue) were quite good.  I particularly appreciate how she uses short, pithy statements such as “Everybody is a little off sometimes and I’m a little off a lot of times,” which she said in the last chapter. What an excellent way to state how Lewy Body can mess up a person’s day to day choices and actions but doesn’t necessarily do much damage. I mentioned that she had demonstrated the same skills in the previous books we had written together.

          “What books?” Pat asked.

          Pat had forgotten, at that moment, that she was co-author of Letting Go of Shame and of Letting Go of Anger, both positively reviewed books that have sold well. She is sometimes even a little shaky about her contribution to our Lewy Body Dialogue. A couple days ago she picked it up and began reading it, almost as if it were completely new to her. She understood that she was its co-author, I think, but perhaps it didn’t feel to her like it belonged to her.

          I worry about Pat’s memory loss, of course. Memory loss doesn’t always accompany the other Lewy Body symptoms, but I have seen Pat becoming much more forgetful now than before her diagnosis. But today what bothered me most was that if Pat couldn’t remember she had written these books, then she also couldn’t recognize how helpful they had been to many, many people; nor could she take healthy pride in her accomplishments.

          So let me list a few of her other successes here: Pat is a national Merit Scholar; she has a Master’s Degree in Guidance and Counseling; Pat was an incredibly creative, empathic and daring therapist; and Pat opened my eyes to a whole world beyond academics because of the wide range of her interests. She also raised three wonderful children who now, as middle-age adults, are gladly returning her love and care.  

          And here is my promise: I will always be proud of who you are, Pat, of what you have accomplished in this world we share, and of the caring, loving human being you are.

 

Pat’s comments on Ron Reminds Pat of her Accomplishments:

          I know what those accomplishments are and I think I have accomplished a lot. I haven’t forgotten what I’ve accomplished.

Ron to Pat: What things that you have done are you most proud of?

          Pat: That gets all mixed up.

Ron to Pat: OK, that was too complicated. Can you tell me one thing you are proud of?

          Pat: That I’m a really good therapist.