Do You Know Mike?

To Mike there were four things Mike valued most in life: His wife, his job, his grandchildren, and his golf game. He had two main jobs during his adult life. For many years he worked for a tractor company, and then more recently he got a job in security for a local hospital. He learned many skills over the years. His wife said he could tear down a bulldozer and put it back together, if necessary. But over time, gradually, she noticed that he had increasing difficulty and showed signs of memory loss. “He mixes things up and almost turns things around,” she said. She noticed unusual changes with his visual tracking. For example, he might read a calendar across, then go down. Or, he might start writing a simple math problem, but put the numbers in odd places. He had difficulty retaining new information. He had problems spelling words. Especially embarrassing was a golf outing with his buddies. He put his shirt on backwards. He hit other people’s golf balls instead of his own. He putted in the wrong direction on the green. His friends did not know anything was wrong until that day.