For Julian's Family & Friends: Keeping up to date

April 19, 2026

I’m sorry I’m so bad about keeping this blog updated. The last few weeks have been very hard. Several friends and family members (besides Julian) have had serious health problems, and I have found it difficult to deal with it all.

A few weeks ago, I decided to ask my neurologist if he would take Julian on as a patient, too. I’m sure that his previous neurologist is competent, but I have known Dr. Mandell for 20+ years. He is not only competent, he is unusually kind and empathetic, and he knows both of us well, because Julian usually goes with me to my visits. He is not taking new patients, but as a favor to us, he agreed to take Julian on. (He told me that Julian and I are among his favorite couples.)

Dr. Mandell approved of and has kept Julian on all his medications. However, Julian’s decline continues to accelerate. In the last week, he has developed two new symptoms.

First, he has developed what seems to my layperson’s eye to be Wernicke’s aphasia. He speaks in grammatical sentences, but the words make no sense. This occurs only in the evenings, say after 8:00 PM or so.

Second, his sleep has become very disturbed. He twitches, tosses, and turns, and talks as if we were in the middle of a conversation.

As some of you know, I had an addition built on so that if it becomes impossible for us to sleep in the same bed, I will still be able to be within easy reach of him if he needs me. But I am far from ready to take that step.

We have a call in to Dr. Mandell, and I hope to see him later this week.