My Vinyl Count Down
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I'm Mike Oliver and I have a degenerative brain disease called Lewy body dementia. I will tell you in some blog posts what I'm feeling as my disease progresses. I feel due to the efforts such as this one, there is a growing understanding of the disease in the community.
My Vinyl Count Down
1y ago
Everyone has certain songs that take you back to another place and time, songs that trigger physiological changes in your body. These songs may conjure up ghosts, pleasures, anguish, and broken-hearted pain. They may be sad songs; they may be bad songs. They cast a spell on you. (Insert ‘Screamin’ Jay Hawkins here.) They may ..read more
My Vinyl Count Down
1y ago
Last week’s record-setting flurry of 40-point-plus games by individual players made me wonder. What if the rim, through which you must shoot to score a basket, was higher by 12 inches? This move would make it harder to dunk and also, one would suspect, make it more difficult to score from outside, especially the ever-present ..read more
My Vinyl Count Down
1y ago
Be patient. It takes a while to wile away the hours. (Actually, it only takes an ‘h’.) To be honest, I’m tired of Lewy body dementia. Thinking about it. Talking about it. Writing about it. Living with it. And what have I learned in the six years? That it’s good to have a few pairs ..read more
My Vinyl Count Down
1y ago
I know it’s getting a little late in the season with Christmas around the corner But on Christmas Day, Dec. 25., 2017 published a list of my Top 5 Christmas albums. In the interest of saving our environment, I am going to recycle and give you the same ones. Stop, don’t hit that button that ..read more
My Vinyl Count Down
1y ago
It’s one of those slowed down beautiful Fall days. Yellow leaves fall and float against a cloudless blue sky. It’s about room temperature. Except you get a little leftover summer breeze if you sit outside. The day is idyllic but I can’t settle my mind. A news alert warned of a wreck that shut down ..read more
My Vinyl Count Down
1y ago
Gus is dead. The rust-colored family dog, a poodle mix, breathed his last breath Monday morning, moments after a veterinarian injected him with a lethal drug. He was 17. I wasn’t there at the time of death. I couldn’t bear adding anything to the trauma it brought to me. As someone living with Lewy body ..read more
My Vinyl Count Down
1y ago
The game was knotted at 18. It had been getting a little intense, some might even say ‘chippy.’ The next bucket would win. Every shot was fiercely contested. Most shots brought shouts of ‘Foul,’ and the ensuing usual arguments. “You’re holding.” “He traveled.” That’s to be expected when the two best teams in a field of ..read more
My Vinyl Count Down
1y ago
Basketball has long been my measuring stick for how my disease was affecting my game. And no, I don’t mean that I make up a little game and say to myself if I can make 5, 3-pointers in a row I am cured. But I did keep close tabs on how Lewy was affecting the ..read more
My Vinyl Count Down
1y ago
Breathe, breathe in the air. Don’t be afraid to care. This simple lyric Pink Floyd fans know for sure. But how many actually understand this lifeforce and use it to its full power. How many of us stop and ponder the layer of oxygen engulfing out planet, from which we take sips every living minute ..read more
My Vinyl Count Down
1y ago
Hey, I forgot to tell you. We have a new animal living in our household, and a new human. Well, the human is not exactly new. She’s our grown-up daughter, one of three. So Emily needed a place to stay for an undetermined amount of time, and she came packing cat. Her name is Yuki ..read more