Comments on: Blog 13: Over Tired

By: Harold and Nola

Harold and Nola — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 22:16:43 +0000

And following on, because we didn’t see you both too often, when the final ‘crash’ came, it was the biggest shock to us both. As for the trip to Alaska, Nola quails at the very thought . . . Harold is far the braver here . . .

By: Fay

Fay — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 07:23:21 +0000

It is true, Sonia, that those trips built a store of memories for us and that Bill was able to use the resultant photo albums as props for some time after. But I think that our doctor thought that Bill, by involving himself in life, was giving himself a chance at staving off dementia. Bill’s diagnosis, at this stage, was still Aphasia. Only a third of people with Aphasia sink into Dementia. Though he never voiced it, our doctor, I believe, was hoping against hope that life involvement would keep Bill out of that third. Alas, that was not to be.

By: Fay

Fay — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 07:11:57 +0000

I suppose, Kim, the fact of the matter is that people with dementia are still alive and they still need to keep on living.
I’ve just finished reading Hazel Hawke’s story, written by her daughter. As Hazel sank deeper into Alzheimer’s, her daughter, who lived next door, continued to allow her to walk the neighbourhood by herself. It was a bit of a risk, but her daughter understood that it was important for Hazel to feel that she was still independent and still living her life.
Though Bill never walked by himself ….. he always had me to walk with him ….. he still needed to live and travelling …… particularly with Bill driving ….. was one way we were able to fulfil that need.

By: Sonia Hendy

Sonia Hendy — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 03:39:03 +0000

I agree with Kim, those were important trips. The long years of being almost house bound were still in the future. More happy memories to keep.

By: Kim

Kim — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 03:26:53 +0000

Every experience you went through was a learning curve as Bill’s dementia progressed. It was brave of you to undertake such a big trip, but as you said, it was important to pack in the things you wanted to do before the dementia became too advanced. Had you not ventured out of the house, I doubt you would have learned so much about the way the disease can affect us.