Losing a "faculty"

It is a week of doctor appointments, check-ups or check-ins.  Hubby has had some very good days and the session with the geriatric team went well.  The new resident speaks better English than the last one which helps though I do occasionally have to repeat her questions for hubby to understand.  After a few back and forth questions and answers, she excused herself to go get her "faculty".  Geez, is hubby not the only one in the room who has lost a "faculty"?  Or where is she going to find one?  I could use a new "faculty".  We both could.
     Alas, she returned with her supervisor, a charming doc full of information that I found enlightening.  One, yes, research is coming up with a vaccine for Alzheimer's and two, researchers have found a marker in blood samples that appear to be able to predict Alz 3 years prior to symptoms but not yet approved for use.  In response to the last, I mentioned something about inheriting the predisposition.    My mother-in-law and all of her 5 siblings have had Alz or some form of dementia.  My husband's older sister (she is now deceased) and older brother suffer Alz.  The doc said that research has proved that if one's parent had Alzheimer's, one has a 50% chance of having it.  Wow!  No wonder the numbers are increasing tremendously.  He also said that once one reaches 80, regardless of the genetics, the chances go up to 40% for the general population.  Yikes, now that is real motivation to do our best to keep a healthy brain.
    I had to think if only when my mother-in-law was diagnosed, we could have had the information we have today and at least the medication to possibly slow the process down.  I feel sad that I knew so little when she was in my supervision in the nursing home.  But hopefully that experience is helping me make this a better experience for both me and my husband.
      Well, the weather has finally warmed up and guess what!  He's watering again....not the garage, thank God, just the backyard.  He can be so child like it is kinda cute.  Yesterday was a beautiful warm day and Tuesday is the afternoon I volunteer in our local library bookstore (believe me, this break is more benefit to me than the library).  So I left hubby with a snack sitting at the breakfast table going over a pile of the many piles of papers he must get rid of to get the house on the market.  When I came home, he was in the backyard looking at the crepe myrtles like he was going to trim them some more.  I walked out to greet him and saw that there was water standing all along the flower beds...a lot of water.  I said, "I wonder where this came from." and followed the swamp to a neighbor's fence.  He said, "Oh, it must have come from the neighbor's."  I had to laugh...yeah, right!  The hose was strung out across the yard but at least the water was turned off and I'm sure the plants loved it.  So here we go again...I will have to pay attention.  I think it is wonderful that on these beautiful days, he wants to be outside and contributing...I hope he can for a long time to come.