Today is Day 28 of my National Poem Writing Month challenge, and I have managed to write a haiku each day, often using an image to spark my imagination. Todays poem is called Alone and has me thinking more about loneliness, dementia and dying. I’m not so sure the loneliness is any worse than when you are facing…
Recently I posted Jennifer Bute’s story of being diagnosed with dementia. A couple of her quotes really stood out to me. The first quote is about compensating for the symptoms of dementia: ‘To compensate, I became ruthlessly efficient, writing everything down as soon as I had spoken to the patient and following up referrals immediately. However, I…
Recently Richard Taylor wrote to the following message to a person with younger onset dementia living in Queensland who had connected with him via his website; “Thank you for taking the time to write. Have you met Kate Swaffer? She is a kindred spirit, who also lives in Australia, of ours who hears the same…
Why do writer’s write? The only reason writers write is they can’t help it; they have to! We are compelled to put pen to pape or fingers to the keyboard, whether it is published or not, almost like an illness or addiction. As a child, I can even recall sitting on the loo, writing on the toilet…
As always, there are still a few things to do when someones life ends, a few loose ends, a few things you’d wished you’d always done, a few things you wished you’d never done, a few people who wished they had seen you more often, a few people who you wish you had seen more…
In DPSNews.com.au an article Alzheimer’s Research: lost cause, written on 17 October 2012 leads with; “Some of Australia’s leading experts on Alzheimer’s disease say an alarming number of drug companies are abandoning research into treatments for dementia. The ABC reports despite huge advances in neuro-imaging and diagnostic techniques, there has been little progress when it…
Last week I attended a meeting of the Coromandel Valley Quilters club, supporting someone from the The Bereaved Through Suicide Support Group Inc. as they were one of six recipients of $500 being donated by the quilters club. It was with some shock when another group, Tender Loving Carers (a new group set up in South…
This blog examines the philosophical issues of euthanasia and voluntary assisted suicide, which is the painless killing of a human being with an incurable illness or injury, to relieve physical and psychological suffering. Euthanasia involves the intentional taking of life and has been the topic of much religious, moral, ethical, philosophical, legal and human rights…
An online friend has given me some topics to write about, and today I thought I’d try a NaNoWriMo style writing of this one; “How do you feel about what the future holds for you – the future in 1 year, in 2 years and in 5 years? How does it make you feel? What…
One online friend has asked me to explore and write about older people not wanting to accept a diagnosis of dementia, and how they often don’t want to talk about it or involve themselves and their families in this new world. Many older people I know won’t even talk to their doctors about their memory loss…
I’ve been reading some Emily Brontë poems lately, and have thought about grieving and dementia in relation to her poem Remembrance. The danger of grieving is that the dead can become more real to you than the living, and you can love them more in death than when they were alive, somehow take more notice of…
The symptoms of dementia seem to be regularly washing some of my abilities away, as if at sea, and many of them never quite return. These changes mean I am constantly revising my Bucket list, as some of the things I once wanted to do, are no longer dementia friendly, and some things no longer…
The primary purpose and value of early diagnosis of dementia is timely access to information, advice, and support and access to a pathway of effective treatment and care from the time of diagnosis to end of life care, and to enable interventions that may only work or be suitable in the earlier stages[1]. Early diagnosis…
Younger onset dementia is simply the diagnosis of a person under the age of 65 with dementia. It varies significantly, but the impact on a person under this age and their families is very different to someone over the age of 65. Usually the person is still in paid employment They may still have school…
Don’t let dementia become your capricious mistress, something the rest of your life (and that of your family) has to compete with. Don’t live the life of an exile, limited to the symptoms of your or your loved one’s symptoms of dementia. Focus your attention and energy instead on what you have left that is…
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