CALM AND A PRAYER THIS INAUGURATION DAY

CALM AND A PRAYER THIS INAUGURATION DAY 

By Andy Weddington

Wednesday, 20 January 2021

The sole virtue of losing your short-term memory is that it does free you to be your own editor. - Norman Mailer

The first thing I saw on social media this morning was a photograph of four Inauguration Day buttons - Biden/Harris.

Reactions ...

1. Blue and white. All four. Not a lick of red.

2. The small print tagline below Biden/Harris on one of the buttons I misread as, "A PRESIDENCY FOR ALL ALZHEIMERS" - actually, the word AMERICANS.

How do you "unite" if not at least some red, better still a flag, on the button? 

Little things matter to realize big things. 

Freud might have some insight. 

But I don't need Freud. 

Twentysix years ago on a beautiful Sunday morning I was one of two people in a Cessna 150 on a short one hour flight. 

I was not the pilot. Because I am not a pilot. Both of us wore headphones with mic. We talked. 

About thirty minutes into the flight something happened. 

The mood changed. The pilot got quiet, and seemed more focused on flying. 

As we neared the destination airport, the pilot requested landing instructions.

Tower instructions were clear. 

The pilot looked and me and asked, "Where do I land?"

I repeated the number (I heard).

Again, the pilot asked where to land.

And then it was clear something was wrong. 

The pilot's eyes told of a problem.

So not having any idea how to fly nor land, I pointed to the runway and calmly said, "That one! Put it down there."

No problem, we landed. 

Out of the plane and talking - the pilot degrading - about what just happened it was clear we needed to get to the hospital.

A couple of calls alerted the hospital with summation of the problem and the on-call doctor was paged to meet us. 

On arrival, the old doctor first greeted me (pilot in treatment room) and briefed only me on what he suspected.

"I have seen this once before in my career. It's rare. Transient Global Amnesia. It's believed caused by an ischemic attack."

All familiar words of the English language but the first time I'd ever heard them put together in that fashion. And this was before cell phones and tablets (so research had to wait - old school at the library).

Transient Global Amnesia - basically no ability, none, to receive and process new information. Incoming is heard and gone instantly. To test, the doctor walked into the treatment room, introduced himself, spoke to the pilot a few minutes and said he'd return shortly then walked out of the room closing the door.

Shortly was instantaneous. He walked right back in. And was a complete stranger to the pilot. That routine was repeated four or five times. Complete stranger. 

It was as amusing as it was scary.  

Other tests indicated ischemic attack. 

So there was diagnosis. Serious but not life-threatening. 

The "episode" gradually passed during the next 24 hours with the pilot asking repetitive questions but no recollection thereafter of what happened. It never happened. Days and even years later stories of the day triggered testy replies of denial and dismissal as fabrication. 

An interesting twist about Transient Global Amnesia is there's little if any impact on long-term memory nor previously mastered technical skills (which explains how the pilot could still fly but not process landing instructions). 

Reflecting on that morning, fear was never a concern. Doing what was necessary to get the plane down safely and the pilot to a hospital trumped all other cares. 

In some ways what I observed during that incident aligns with current observation of someone I know diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. 

In particular, short-term memory problems - severely diminished ability to encode new information.

The similarities eerie. 

Though one critical difference being there will not be recovery from the Alzheimer's Disease. If fact, it progresses; nonlinearly. 

I have been thinking about these upclose and personal experiences with memory failure and loss. And a lot about all the things that could have gone terribly wrong in that airplane. 

I believe (my) calm had everything to do with a safe landing. The pilot understood something was wrong but did not panic; because I did not.

I know my calm is effective with the Alzheimer's patient; as agitation and anger a common irrational behavior that can escalate quickly.

Today, America swore into office a President with memory problems.

There is no denying.  

Does he suffer dementia/Alzheimer's Disease?

I do not know.

But logically believe so because what I have seen these past 18 months or so is his language, spoken and body, bursts of anger, and behavior aligns with what I have dealt with during the same timeframe.

Were Biden a pilot, I'd not board a Cessna with him.

If around him, calm. 

Only hours after the air incident I called a mutual friend, a pilot, to tell of what happened and to make arrangements for getting the plane home.

I debriefed the flight start to finish and wrapped up our conversation sharing my personal concerns of not being a pilot and landing the plane with belief that calm and a prayer helped preempt what could have been tragedy.

His words flash back with clarity, "Andy, you did a fine job. And you had no reason whatsoever to be concerned. That airplane was coming down." 

This morning, busy making a big pot of soup and sundry priorities, I did not watch Inauguration coverage. 

Despite deep (non-partisan) concerns - as to failing memory and more - with whom now holds duties of President of the United States, I choose calm and say a little prayer America - land that I love - lands safely. 

Post Script: As the doctor predicted, the pilot recovered; with no recollection of the event. He never again took to air without another pilot in the right seat. Dad died little more than 7 years ago. There is nothing wrong with my memories - long nor short-term - of him. I still do not know how to fly.