My Brain’s Black Box  - In Case This Ends Badly 

I’m Ami (Claxton) Salkind, a 57-year-old PhD epidemiologist conducting an involuntary N-of-1 study of my own neurodegeneration. Think of this as a manual flight log after my brain’s autopilot abruptly walked off the job mid-air. I’m now flying this plane by hand for the duration.

In late 2025, I was diagnosed with MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment). I call it "Dementia Lite", the same great taste of dementia, just with less filling (spoiler alert: for now). **UPDATE** my diagnosis was “upgraded” from MCI to mild dementia in June 2026. 

Most resources treat those of us with dementia as if we’ve already "left the building." But I am still in the building. This channel is my airplane black box: a raw data log of a pilot staying in the seat while the engines smoke and the alarms scream and the flight attendants look nervous. 

I’m documenting the descent in real-time, because even if the flight ends badly, the black box is meant to survive and tell the tale.