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Life & Times Transcript
9/4/07 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- It's usually associated with old age, but what happens when Alzheimer's strikes early? Richard Bozanich>> It's like I know I want to make toast, but I don't know what to do with it. Do I put the bread in the microwave? Do I put it in the oven? You know, I was literally taking a cup of coffee and putting it in the toaster. I mean, I just was getting so confused. Val Zavala>> And then, he was part of aviation history from the early days of barnstorming through the first space flights. The record-breaking career of Jimmy Doolittle. These stories and more next on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> He just turned fifty and he got some terrible news. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. So how does a person prepare for the inevitable, especially when he has to take care of an eighty-five year old mother? Hena Cuevas takes a look at the challenges of early Alzheimer's. Hena Cuevas>> It started with something as simple as making breakfast. Richard Bozanich>> I'm looking to make toast and I don't know where to put the toast. Hena Cuevas>> It was two years ago when Richard Bozanich was forty-eight. Richard Bozanich>> It's like I know I want to make toast, but I don't know what to do with it. Do I put the bread in the microwave? Do I put it in the oven? You know, I was literally taking a cup of coffee and putting it in the toaster. I mean, I just was getting so confused. Hena Cuevas>> And then it started creeping into other parts of his life. Richard Bozanich>> I was getting lost going to places that, you know, I had probably driven to a thousand times. Hena Cuevas>> At one point, did you ever think you were going crazy? Richard Bozanich>> Oh, sure. I mean, yeah. Especially when my first doctor said, "You're just depressed." But then, thank God, the other doctor said, "No, you don't sound depressed to me." In a strange way, having a diagnosis was a relief to me because then something made sense. It's like, oh, now I have an explanation for why these things are happening. Hena Cuevas>> The doctor's diagnosis shocked him. It was Alzheimer's. Richard Bozanich>> I was pretty stunned. I was in a real dark place for about two months and you can imagine the kind of places that I went to in terms of maybe not wanting to go on. Hena Cuevas>> Alzheimer's disease is a neurological disorder affecting peoples' memory and behavior. But in almost ninety-five percent of the cases, it affects the elderly, those over the age of sixty-five. When it hits someone younger like Richard, it's called early onset Alzheimer's and it's extremely rare. Only six percent of all cases are early onset. It's also hereditary, linked to a defective gene. In Richard's case, it runs on his mother's side, so he had a fifty percent chance of developing it. According to Debra Cherry of the Alzheimer's Association, young people like Richard are often misdiagnosed. Debra Cherry>> So if you are an individual in your thirties and you start to show signs of confusion, get lost going to familiar places, a difficult time finding words, the first thing you think is maybe the person's depressed or maybe they're very anxious, but you never think Alzheimer's disease. Hena Cuevas>> That's why exact numbers are so difficult. It's estimated between two hundred to six hundred thousand people under the age of sixty-five nationwide have early onset Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's continues to be a growing problem. According to the Department of Public Health, it now ranks as one of the top ten causes of death in Los Angeles County, coming in at number eight. It all has to do with an aging population as well as better ways of identifying the disease. But for those like Richard who are diagnosed at such an early age, living with Alzheimer's brings a completely different set of problems. He now walks with a cane since the part of his brain that controls his balance has been effected. And at fifty, he can no longer work and is on disability. For decades, he was a newspaper and magazine writer and copy editor. Richard Bozanich>> Because I can't think clearly. I mean, I look at my emails that I send to people and, you know, I'm embarrassed because I see so many mistakes. So you can't be an editor if you're introducing mistakes into copy. Your job is to fix them. Margaret Bozanich>> Someone told me, "Why doesn't Rich write a book?" because they thought you would write an interesting book about it with your skills and all. Hena Cuevas>> But most burdensome of all is the reversal of the traditional caretaker roles. Two years ago, he moved in with his eighty-five year old widowed mother, Margaret. She's healthy, but Richard wanted to be close by. Now with early onset Alzheimer's, Margaret is helping him. Margaret Bozanich>> I don't know how many other people are in my situation at my age. We have three people on this block whose husbands have it and are like my age. So the wives were looking after their husbands and it's not easy. Richard Bozanich>> It's like I don't know who's helping whom because, you know, I know that she checks on me and makes sure that I've turned the stove off. There are all kinds of things that she does. You know, I'm always asking her where something is. Margaret Bozanich>> I kind of watch like when he has something on the stove. I say, "Rich, are you sure that it isn't ready yet?" I go out and check, I think, two or three times. When he goes to the store, I worry if he's going to come home safely, if he's going to find the place. Hena Cuevas>> But getting around is now easier. Richard has a GPS device in his car to keep him from getting lost. >> "Please turn left in two hundred fifty feet, then turn left." Hena Cuevas>> And he's been on medications for two years. There's no cure for Alzheimer's, but there are some drugs that are supposed to delay the progression of the disease. And he's also doing something else he hopes will keep his mind from deteriorating so quickly. >> "Let's try that again. There are three choices left." Hena Cuevas>> Once a week, he comes here to Dakim in Santa Monica to serve as a guinea pig of sorts. >> "Which of the pieces below fits in the blank spot?" Hena Cuevas>> Dakim is the maker of a mental stimulation program called Empower. It's basically math and word problems as well as puzzles. Its creator, Dan Michel, describes it as a workout for the brain. Dan Michel>> And I think that's just like going to the gym and physical exercise. If you don't do it, you do lose it. Hena Cuevas>> The idea is to keep the brain stimulated and active. Michel recommends twenty minutes a day, five days a week. >> "I'm going to lead you through a series of simple calculations." Hena Cuevas>> Richard is here to test the new program and give his feedback. >> "Seventeen times five." Dan Michel>> It's a two-way street. We let Richard gain the benefit of using our system and he gives us the benefit of his insight and his experience. He's a very articulate individual who gives us very good guidance. Richard Bozanich>> "This time, we had to listen to the music." >> "Yes, and you said before that that's distracting." Richard Bozanich>> "That's really distracting for me, yeah." Hena Cuevas>> The Empower program is sold mainly to retirement homes and senior care facilities. A home version is coming out in the fall. And with an aging population, Michel says that programs like this one are becoming more popular. Dan Michel>> We are the generation that drove the physical fitness boom in this country and I believe that we'll be the generation that drives the brain fitness boom as well. >> "If you multiply its generic value by two and add five, you'll get the square of half of it." Hena Cuevas>> For now, Richard has traded his depression for advocacy. He talks to people about what it's like to have Alzheimer's. Richard Bozanich>> Looking at someone who's forty-nine, I think it's harder for them to cope with that and deal with that. So on some level, I think I have kind of an obligation to speak up and try to get more money for research. Debra Cherry>> There is a great sense of being alone with this illness and for their care partners or caregivers, be it a wife, a husband or a parent, there is the sense that they are the only ones facing this crisis. Everyone else they see has gray hair and they don't. Hena Cuevas>> In one sense, Richard feels fortunate since he's single with no children. He knows how stressful Alzheimer's can be on families. On the other hand, it's just him and his mother and he's aware of the tough road ahead. Richard Bozanich>> And you can be bitter about it or you can just try to live your best life. I know that might sound like a platitude or cliché, but I don't know what other choice I have. Hena Cuevas>> I'm Hena Cuevas for Life and Times. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> The person in our next story is no longer alive. Bill died of cancer at age sixty-one. He was a schizophrenic, often homeless, and he thought a lot about God. In fact, doctors says that mental illness and spirituality are often intertwined and maybe it's time they paid a little more attention to that. Student reporter, Amy Tenowich, brings us the story of Bill Compton. Amy Tenowich>> Bill Compton of San Dimas was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1989. He used to hear voices. Bill Compton>> I thought I was the Archangel Gabriel. That's what they told me. I was an archangel and I was having my initiation. Amy Tenowich>> Now he takes medication to control his illness. Bill Compton>> I spent nine months on the street doing nothing but talking to voices. It made me very religious because I thought I was important and had a greater calling. Amy Tenowich>> Delusional, yes, but not unusual when it comes to brain circuitry and religious experience. At UC Irvine's Brain Imaging Center, Dr. James Fallon says that you don't have to be insane to have a mystical experience. Dr. James Fallon>> It's sort of interesting that some things that we consider insanity are quite acceptable, depending on if you're sitting in a church or a synagogue or a temple or something. Bill Compton>> I had a dream that all the good people would be on the mountain and I wanted followers. I never made it to the mountains other than Runyon Canyon Park, you know (laughter). The Hollywood hills is the closest I made it to the mountains (laughter). Amy Tenowich>> Sounds insane, of course, but when it comes to mystical experiences, the line between sanity and insanity becomes blurred. Dr. James Fallon>> So one could say by inference that the same sort of players in the brain, the same brain areas and therefore implied circuits, are in play in both types of experiences. Amy Tenowich>> Still, the brain science behind mystical experiences remains very much a mystery, especially when dealing with schizophrenics. Dr. Steven Potkin is also at Irvine's Brain Imaging Center. He's a psychiatrist who actually treats schizophrenics. Dr. Steven Potkin>> The truth of it is that it still depends on the ability of the person to tell you what they're experiencing. So part of it is, you have to know what they're thinking and then you can see what part of the brain is affected by their thinking. Amy Tenowich>> But what they do know is that, in schizophrenia, brain circuits that should connect and synthesize all parts of reality never fully develop. That can lead to a loss of one's sense of self, the boundary where you end and where the rest of the world begins. Yet according to many religions, that very lack of separation is seen as the road to God. Dr. James Fallon>> Is there a sharp cutoff between, you know, insanity and a regular experience even though they may be qualitatively really the same? They may feel the same. Amy Tenowich>> Compton remembers living like that, although it was far from a comforting religious experience. The voices he heard used to terrorize him. Bill Compton>> They are very scary and they keep you up all hours of the day and night. Amy Tenowich>> He's calmed those voices with medication, but he wishes faith could play a positive role in his life. Now research suggests that he could be right. A study last year in the American Journal of Psychiatry said spirituality and religion are rarely incorporated or even addressed in the treatment of schizophrenia. Bill Compton knows this firsthand. Bill Compton>> In a mental health treatment, I've never heard anything said about religion. They're very clinical and very cold, yes. Amy Tenowich>> The study also showed that most schizophrenics interviewed said that spirituality was very important to them. Some practitioners and patients are starting to wonder if it should be incorporated in treatment. Bill Compton>> To understand the person with the illness, you really need to understand about the hallucinations and about the influence of religion. Dr. Steven Potkin>> Sure. I've had patients who want to talk about religiosity or their religious feelings. It's a difficult issue because very often it's incorporated into the delusional system, so you're sort of torn between wanting to help them explore that and also wanting to help them deal with the reality of the world they live in. Amy Tenowich>> Compton says in the conventions held for those living with mental illness, the workshops dealing with spirituality are among the most popular. Dr. Fallon is not surprised. Dr. James Fallon>> We're in a group of schizophrenics and they say, "Yeah, not only can we go into these periods of delusion and obsession with religions and this absolute connectiveness with it, but actually when we're okay and we're not having hallucinations or delusions, the same thing is still really important to us." Bill Compton>> You have to treat people not as a disease, but as a whole person. Amy Tenowich>> No matter what their illness? Bill Compton>> Yeah, no matter what the illness, yes. Dr. Steven Potkin>> Sometimes you miss an opportunity for someone who's very religious to use that as a tool to help them cope with, in fact, the delusions or hallucinations that they're having. So I think it's really a tool that could be better used. Bill Compton>> I prayed when I had the voices. I prayed that they would go away and they said, "That won't help you." The voices said, "That won't help you." I've been scared to sort of pray ever since. Amy Tenowich>> Now, on top of schizophrenia, Compton also has liver cancer. Bill Compton>> I have an illness that can be fatal and it would be nice to be able to pray. Amy Tenowich>> If there is a cerebral spectrum of spirituality, as Dr. Fallon says, Bill Compton has experienced both extremes. Bill Compton>> I wasn't the Archangel Gabriel. It wasn't the end of the world. I believed that it was. Amy Tenowich>> Now he says he has a different calling. Bill Compton>> I ended up working for the Mental Health Association and establishing a program to help other people with mental illness. I've gotten a career and awards and that would have never happened if it hadn't happened to me. Amy Tenowich>> And as for those voices? Bill Compton>> Yes, I still hear voices from time to time. I still feel like I'm possessed. Amy Tenowich>> But those voices that once tormented Bill Compton now sound more like an old friend. Bill Compton>> I ask them if I've survived this illness and they say, "Don't worry about it, Bill." Amy Tenowich>> For Life and Times, I'm Amy Tenowich. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Val Zavala>> Anyone who knows World War II history knows the story of the Tokyo Raid. Well, the man who led that raid was aviator, Jimmy Doolittle. Doolittle set a lot of records and went on to become a four-star General. In short, American aviation history wouldn't be the same without him. Now his granddaughter, Jonna Doolittle Hoppes, has written a book about her grandfather called "Calculated Risk: The Extraordinary Life of Jimmy Doolittle". Vicki Curry talked with Hoppes at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino. Jonna Doolittle Hoppes>> I would say that he was one of the greatest aviators that ever lived. Vicki Curry>> Jimmy Doolittle was a renaissance man of aviation. He is best known for leading a raid on Tokyo during World War II, but he was also a barnstormer, a racer, an executive, a military commander and an aeronautical engineer. Jonna Doolittle Hoppes>> His love of aviation, his dedication to the science behind aviation, the contributions that he made not only as a speed pilot, but as a scientist, all impacted where aviation went, all the way up into being on the first force in the beginning of our space exploration. Vicki Curry>> We here in southern California can be proud because Jimmy Doolittle was a native. He was born and raised here and ended his life here. Tell me a little bit about his childhood. Jonna Doolittle Hoppes>> He was born in Alameda, California and, although he spent a number of years up in Nome, Alaska when his dad went up to follow gold, his mother came back when Jimmy was about eleven years old. He went to Manual Arts High School. He married his high school sweetheart. In fact, they were forbidden to marry because her parents said he would never accomplish anything (laughter). So they eloped on Christmas Eve in 1917 and she passed away on their seventy-first wedding anniversary. Vicki Curry>> Now how was it that he first fell in love with flying? Jonna Doolittle Hoppes>> He attended one of the early air shows out at Dominguez Hills and he was absolutely fascinated with all the different planes that they had out there. He went from plane to plane to plane trying to figure out what made each one fly. In fact, he built his first plane. He built a glider when he was in high school, strapped it on, went running off the side of a cliff and destroyed it twice (laughter). But he fell in love just watching the planes fly here. It really wasn't until he took his first flight that it was a love affair that would go on forever. Vicki Curry>> And that happened when he enlisted in the Army? Jonna Doolittle Hoppes>> Right. Down in San Diego. A gentleman by the name of Charles Todd was his flight instructor and he took him up in a Ginny, one of the old Ginny's, and I don't think he ever really wanted to come down. I'm not sure he ever really came down. Vicki Curry>> Sounds like he spent his life flying high. Jonna Doolittle Hoppes>> He did. He loved it, he loved it. And he was an amazing pilot. He accomplished a lot during his lifetime. Vicki Curry>> Doolittle was the first pilot to fly cross-country in under twenty-four hours. He was the first to win all the major aviation racing trophies. He set the world's high-speed record for land planes and won the Schneider Cup race with the fastest seaplane ever flown. He was a highly decorated four-star General and he was the first pilot to take off, fly and land an airplane using only instruments. Jonna Doolittle Hoppes>> In fact, I asked him what he felt his greatest contribution was and it was the blind flight. Before the instruments were created, you couldn't fly in any kind of weather. You couldn't land if there was any fog. By creating the instruments, by working with the Guggenheim Foundation and working with Elmer Sperry, they were able to get past that so that we could have regular air mail deliveries and eventually so that we could have airlines that would deliver passengers on a regular schedule. Vicki Curry>> But Jimmy Doolittle is most famous for the raid on Tokyo in 1942, America's first response to Pearl Harbor. Doolittle led a mission of sixteen bombers specially modified to take off from a short deck on the U.S.S. Hornet. The plan was to get within four hundred fifty miles of the Japanese coast, drop bombs on Tokyo and then land in China. Jimmy Doolittle>> "They were told that there was a mission to be accomplished, that it was a dangerous mission and how many of them would like to volunteer. The entire group volunteered and then from that group were selected the people who went. Then the B-25 had to be modified in order to permit it to have the necessary range." Vicki Curry>> And we're here at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino. They have one of the B-25 bombers, the same kind of plane that was used in the Tokyo raid, is that right? Jonna Doolittle Hoppes>> That's right. Now the thing about this, if you look at that plane, there's no way that that could ever land on an aircraft carrier. So they knew that it was a mission that they would have to take off close enough to Japan where they could drop their bombs and then make it to China. But the interesting thing about this raid is that rumor has it that it was a suicide mission. That's not true. They knew the science behind taking these planes off. They knew that they could take them off, they knew that they could hit their targets and they also knew that they could land safely in China. What made it an almost suicide mission was the fact that they were discovered early and had to take off. Vicki Curry>> They were more than two hundred miles further off the coast than they'd planned. This forced the pilots to load their planes with more fuel which threatened their takeoff from the short deck. Then when their fuel ran out, most were forced to crash land in China or bail out by parachute. But the raid was a public relations victory for the United States, scaring the Japanese and boosting Americans' morale. [Film Clip] Vicki Curry>> You mention in your book that part of the reason you decided to write it was in response to the movie, "Pearl Harbor". Why was that? Jonna Doolittle Hoppes>> Well, we got a copy of the original script and, in the original script, the character of Jimmy Doolittle was portrayed as someone who was not particularly bright, who had a very, very foul mouth, didn't even know what a slide rule was. Now I'm going to start with a disclaimer here right off the bat because the Disney people were absolutely wonderful. When they discovered that it was not an accurate portrayal, some of them worked very closely with us. In fact, both Michael Bay and Jennifer Klein and Jerry Bruckheimer went out of their way to make sure that the movie was not disrespectful. Vicki Curry>> And Alec Baldwin was the one that portrayed him in the movie, correct? Jonna Doolittle Hoppes>> He did. He did play Doolittle in the movie. It was kind of funny. I told him, "Your eyes are great, but you're going to have to shave your head" because Gramps was bald (laughter). That didn't go over. But that's where we discovered that you can write anything you want about someone once they've passed. Vicki Curry>> What are some of the things that you most wanted to point out about him? Jonna Doolittle Hoppes>> I wanted to point out the honesty, the integrity, the humorous side of the General in addition to the family man, the guy we knew, who Granddad was. I was very lucky because I spent a lot of time with him over the years, with both of my grandparents. Vicki Curry>> Well, it's been just over ten years since his death, but it seems that Jimmy Doolittle had such a tremendous impact on our lives today. Jonna Doolittle Hoppes>> For me personally, I don't think I'll ever get past missing him, his warmth, his humor, his impact on my daughters, on our family. He was a joy to know and I think one of the best things was that he cared. He listened, he cared, he involved himself with us. Vicki Curry>> Jonna Doolittle Hoppes, author of the book, "Calculated Risk", thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us. Jonna Doolittle Hoppes>> Thank you very much, Vicki, for asking me out here. I've had a great time. Val Zavala>> Cesar Millan, the famous dog whisperer, was recently honored at Los Angeles City Hall for all he's done for dogs and dog owners and that reminded us that we met Cesar seven years ago before his television show and books made him a star. We thought this would be an appropriate occasion to look at a short excerpt from that story from 1999. Cesar Millan>> Well, I do practice something totally natural, which is the power of the fact that there's a way to connect dogs to humans in a much natural way, which is within the pack and a human is in front of them. That's what makes the front end. The other thing is, I don't use speech while I practice this connection. What we do is, we have the tendency to talk verbally to them and to approach them. So by us behaving this way, we are talking to the ears and to the eyes. Dogs always like to smell before they see or hear things, so what we do is wrong. I allow them to come to me and smell me completely and, once I see their behavior from the tail wagging or from ears, feeling good about myself, and then I can touch or talk. With the water, we begin by giving them in a pack and then one at a time because, this way, they appreciate water where it came from. If I just pour water in there, it comes from the bucket. It doesn't come from me. This water comes from me. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> Cesar Millan was born in Mexico. He says that his early years on his grandfather's ranch watching wild dogs inspired him to become a dog trainer. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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