Reading

I've been reading a lot the last few weeks. I can only read a little at a time before one of the kids needs something but it prolongs my reading enjoyment. Otherwise, I'd read most books in one or two sittings. Particularly if it's a really gripping book. Right now I'm reading Still Alice by Lisa Genova. I had no idea it was the bestsellers list until after I bought it. I don't pick my books based on popularity or the cover. More often than not, a particular book just draws me into it for no apparent reason. I don't even need to see the cover, just the binding and I know I'll buy it. I read every book from cover to cover, no matter how awful it may be. I once read some where that if a book hasn't gotten you by page 150, it's just not going to happen but I always finish them just in case. So far, the page 150 rule has been right every time. At any rate, the book I'm reading right now is about a fifty year old college professor who is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. I'm about halfway through it now. It's really got me thinking about the possibility of my mom, myself or my children having the disease. I don't think we'd have the gene for early onset but I would not be surprised if one of us has one of the other gene's that causes Alzheimer's. There's a lot to suggest that my great grandma on my mom's side had dementia or Alzheimer's. She was never diagnosed with anything but it was pretty clear one holiday when she was at my grandparents house and she told my great grandfather that she didn't know anyone there and that she wanted to go home. My grandfather was her son. My grandfather was in his 70's when he passed away and never showed any signs that I'm aware of that he had any type of dementia. We don't know yet about my grandmother. She has memory problems but doesn't want to address them. Only time will tell. My dad's mom has been diagnosed with dementia. The doctor's claim it was brought on by chemotherapy. But who knows that she hadn't already had symptoms of the disease before she started the chemo and that no one had noticed it? In the book, Alice is screened for different genetic mutations to see if she carries the gene for Alzheimer's. And then her kids are tested. I started wondering if I would want to know or not. I don't think I would. But then I also wondered if I'd have wanted to know BEFORE I had kids, in case I could pass it on to them. I just don't know. If I did have it, my kids would have a 50/50 chance on inheriting the gene. Would I really want to know that? Maybe when I got older, I would want to know so I could take preventative measures before I became symptomatic. I don't to spend my into my fifties worrying about something that may or may not happen. With the advancements of science come more choices to be made about what we do and do not want to about what lives in our bodies. Makes you think, that's for sure. By the way, the book was good from the start.