Ok, so I know the word bugger Could be seen as crude But frankly, it is how I feel Yesterday I talked to my BUB Then I wondered where he was So I was frantically looking for him In our own home He was nowhere to be found So I called him on his mobile…
Whilst I have been too unwell to work, study, or do anything much of any real usefulness for the last couple of weeks, various things have been happening behind the scenes, the product of past work. My second volume of poetry arrived, quite unexpectedly, in the mail this last week, and is already available online.…
I don’t especially like the following poem (whose author is unknown to me)… Perhaps at the end stage of dementia when I am dying, I’ll change my mind. In the meantime, the best of me has not yet gone but still to come Even if I am changing! My response to this poem is below. Sometimes…
Drowning in the afternoon clouds The moon appearing as the darkness falls Light streaming through Like lasting strands of love Midnight dreams unsettling Gnawing away at confidence and strategy Suggestions of tomorrows maybes And reminders of yesterdays struggles Lightness as the dawn awakens the soul As it quiets the inner torment and worrying Allowing reason to…
He sits Alone Amongst a crowd Wondering what Tomorrow Will bring forth His dreams Wondering How to realise Always pondering Aloneness New directions Questioning the Old Seeking new truths It’s not Loneliness He has friends But a Yearning Inside his soul Focusing on Love For the universe Kate Swaffer Copyright © 2016
It seems I have written on Dementia advocacy before Who’d have known It’s more pain than joy It polarises people Sadly makes it more ‘them and us’ People without dementia everywhere Wanting large pieces of the proverbial pie Using people with dementia To take sides and support their business goals Or their personal agendas Being referred…
Sometimes I get it wrong Sometimes I get it right Sometimes things I do or say upset people Sometimes I am misunderstood Sometimes I misunderstand Sometimes I am struggling more with dementia than on other days Sometimes I am unwell with other health issues Sometimes I am happy Sometimes I am crying or sad But always…
Yearning for university Almost from my first day at school Nursing came long instead Long before that became a degree Like an escape And still no university for me And in spite of this Many other things were achieved and accomplished Life now with dementia, and Incredibly, university has become part of my life At least for…
Life Is for living For dreaming And for learning Life Is for crying For healing And for moving on Life Is for remembering Sweet times And for family and friends Life With fading memories Is a roller coaster of loss and grief Life With dementia Can still be fun
Alone In our grief Yearning for what was What now will never again be Life Changed forever Memories are all that’s left And a new way of living Love Not lost and never forgotten Leading our hearts To sway in the breeze Learning To live without them As we float offshore On the raft with…
Yes, I am suffering… but only some of the time not every moment of every day And, importantly… not always from dementia more often from the language of dementia The symptoms of dementia do not consume me one hundred percent of the time Only some moments of some days and definitely not all days So why then must others…
Breathe deeply Take a moment to relax Stop and smell the roses or lavender Take a bath or a swim Look in the mirror and say to yourself I am ok Have lunch with those you love Laugh, live and love More often In between the fast lane Called life in the 21st Century!
finding our way wanting the same our differences visible or invisible not to be seen as disabilities but as Abilities we are still the same even though we may look different or act differently to you our hearts are in tact we still have desires and a need to be independent to learn from each…
What the hell happened to my brain Diagnosed with dementia when I was much too young My children still at school A deadly, terminal disease effecting Memory, thinking, perception, judgment, language and speech But worse than that, effecting my Life, family, friendships, my sense of self, my identity And a bucket load of guilt Truckloads…
