Class News

The wife of Doane Perry ’64 reports great news about Doane's memory loss

August 17, 2021

Doane Perry’s wife, Karen Carmean, sent the following great news about Doane’s memory loss:

Our biggest news is that after more than a year of Doane’s serious memory loss, his memory came back! We moved into Kimball Farms in Lenox MA in early January of 2020, keeping our house in West Stockbridge for the next generation. In early February I noticed the iPad was left on. I asked Doane about it, taught him how to turn it off, again and again and again. He couldn’t learn it.

He was on the select board and when, at the end of February, he didn’t realize that what he voted for was not what he thought (although no harm done because he voted as I would have and as people had been trying to do for twenty years), I got my doctor to convince his doctor to refer him to a neurologist. Doane thought he was fine. When the neurologist asked him questions, I couldn’t believe his answers. I was in shock driving home and I kept forgetting where I was.

Doane was put on generic Aricept and, in retrospect, I realize he did stabilize but not before he could no longer send an email nor make a phone call.

Then in May this year 2021 he was put on Memantine, which has been in Europe for twenty years and the States for eight years. The doctor said if we said wow in 3-4 weeks we would keep him on it but it only worked 15% of the time and you had to start it early.

We did say wow. Last week he was reciting Canterbury Tales in Chaucer’s English. He is now garrulous, remembering his Swahili and Greek. And a delight!! He is independent, gives me good advice and reminds ME of things. The neurologist says Memantine removes glumate at end of neurons. He says if it works, it works. He doesn’t know of a case when it worked that it stopped working or that it required an increase dose.

We are trying to tell everyone because it gives us hope. And because we have never heard of anyone with memory loss getting better. So please share. We both would be glad to talk to others should they wish it.