How would you handle it is you were diagnosed as having Alzheimer's disease? (see details)

Don’t worry, I ‘m not asking because anyone here has been diagnosed. I’m reading a great book by Lisa Genova, ”Still Alice”: http://web.mac.com/lisagenova/Site_5/Still_Alice_Welcome.html, which details the life of a respected and tenured Harvard Professor who is only 50 when she is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. Alice’s PhD is in Psychology with a specialty in Linguistics, so she is painfully aware of what the diagnosis means to her career, her marriage, and her relationship with her three adult children.

She reflects on all the stages of the degenerative disease from mild episodes of forgetfulness and confusion through becoming increasingly dependant on others for everyday affairs like cooking, eating and eventually even knowing how to relieve oneself or clean up afterwards. As she contemplates the point when she will no longer recognize her family, when she will become irrational and abusive to them as they try to care for her, and as she sinks lower into loss of control of excretory function, swallowing and eventually even how to breathe, she wonders if suicide isn’t the best answer.

She wonders, if she does opt for that escape, how long she can wait. By the time the ugly end game is upon her, she likely won’t be able to think through committing suicide. Yet if she acts too soon, how much precious remaining time might she lose that could have been spent with her loved ones?

Slipping into Alice’s shoes, what do you think you would choose to do?