Friday, December 23, 2016

Genetic Testing


OK, the time has come. I want to know. My mother died of early-onset Alzheimer's, my father of Parkinson's, Pick's disease, and Lewy body dementia. I need to know if I'm carrying the markers that indicate sources and symptoms of my future decline. I have decisions to make that will take genetics into account. The prospect of testing has tightened a grip around my heart, sent a cold bolt of terror down deep in the nether realms and genitalia. This is all for real and for keeps. Testing positive will raise questions that I don't want to answer, but will have to, pushed, as I will be, against the wall of my cognitive fate. Illusions of invincibility die hard. There ain't no way around it. Might as well face the monster, one way or the other.

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