Still Alice

Thank you, Dr. Wassel for inviting me to blog...

I finished Still Alice last night and started The Postmortal (great so far!).
My favorite lines from Still Alice are: "Some tomorrow soon, I'll forget that I stood before you and gave this speech.  But just because I'll forget it some tomorrow doesn't mean that I didn't live every second of it today.  I will forget today, but that doesn't mean that today didn't matter." (pg. 253)
Poignant on so many levels.
Those of us without large globs of Amyloid severing our memories, thoughts, perceptions etc, are told to "live for today, for yesterday is gone and tomorrow hasn't arrived!" How very difficult for us.  Our yesterdays programmed us to be who we are today, and our tomorrows give us hope to continue the journey.
I tried to imagine only having today...  actually, only each moment.  I simply couldn't do it.  In a way it might be liberating, but the vapors of identity floating by would remind me just enough of what I was losing.  But, when one is forced into  single moment reality by this devastating disease, the person affected and those surrounding him/her must accept single moments, and that they DO matter.
I loved Alice's daughter, Lydia.  She got it.  She knew what "single moment" to reach for, and found ways to live them with her mother.  For example, at the end of the book, Lydia is rehearsing lines for a play.  She doesn't ask her mother to analyze the words or the specifics of the scene.  But, she knew her mother could feel the emotion through her acting, and that is what she got; a very important interaction from her mother that kept her connected.
Dr. W, I see your point about the hype of Alice's career status by the author.  I would have liked to get a bit more involved in Cathy, the part-time pharmacist raising two kids, or Mary or Dan from the support group.  I believe the author, having a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Harvard, reflects much of her own personal experiences in academia that are not experiences of the average reader (certainly NOT me!).
I can't wait to read more of The Postmortal.  My mind falls so easily into futuristic (or historical!) science fiction.  I love it!
Thanks!   Trish