Cheery Thoughts at Christmas

You have no idea how alone you feel 

Withdrawn into a world ever distant from those closest around you. Told how out of order you are, that your behaviour is scaring certain people, that people are treading on eggshells around you. It feels everything I do or say at times is wrong or offensive to someone. You end up just wanting to go into a room where you can lock the door behind you and indulge your own quirks and interests. It's better for everyone.

Me and you are understanding each other less and less.

It's increasingly impossible for me to understand what is upsetting people. I know I lost my temper weeks ago but I'm still paying for it. I scared people. So I took pills to mitigate my anger. I still lost my temper - we all lose our tempers now and again (well, most of us do) but in a less explosive way. 

So I'm here listening to Louis Cole's latest album which is delightful, and typing this as a form of catharsis. And a smile is back on my face. 

Last time I did this I mentioned names but I've learned that lesson. There's some very sensitive souls out there.

Mortality

My parents are elderly now. You know that thing where you visit them periodically and they are incrementally older each time? You notice it if you live apart.

Mum had a stroke last summer and I was there to witness it. It was like she'd saved it for all of us to be present and then let go for it to happen.

It wasn't like that of course, it was just a coincidence. But it felt like that to me.

I think she's had mini strokes since then. She doesn't want to leave the house now. In a way her and I have synchronised. She has issues with her semantic memory, gets muddled up from time to time. 

Dad is doing everything around the house but he is getting more frail. Demented son is going to go back in the New Year to do some odd jobs for them around the house. God help 'em...

Mortality becomes really apparent when you witness chronic conditions in yourself and your loved ones.

I'm gonna be a star!

On the upside, I've been contacted by those awfully nice people at RDS to be interviewed for Radio 4's Women's Hour. I sent an email to the neurologist who'd be interviewing me and if my pathetic attempts at humour haven't put her off I may be chosen for the final cut.

I'm also part of a group of partners/carers and people with dementia who will be doing talks to get the word out about the seven rare dementias (there are around 200 different types of dementia) that RDS represents.

It feels good to be able to speak about my condition without hopefully bleating on about how terrible it all is.

I shall make some huge faux pas no doubt - all part and parcel of being demented!

Dungeons and Dragons update - no wait!

D&D is ongoing with the 2 campaigns. I would play every day of the week if I could.

But I need something else and I've just bought the 7 books of Narnia. When I was around 8 I read The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. It was the best thing I ever read. I loved it so much - (SPOILER ALERT) that there was another world accessible through an old wardrobe.

But the teacher, Mrs Allery, never told me that there were other books in the series so I read it again and it was only years later that I learned it was a series of 7.

I'm really looking forward to reading them through Christmas and the New Year.

That and the speech-making/giving for RDS are really positive intro to 2023.