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On the short term memory loss posts, we're basically at Stage 7 Alzheimers with my Mum, so I can probably say far too much about the journey.
In some ways the earliest stages are the trickiest. Some days are better than others, and 'did I really see that?' doubts can seep in.
Later on it gets harder to watch if they end up in care. Though the back of mind worries subside about whether they've left the oven on, or gone for a walk and can't find their way home, or, or...
Alzheimer's/Dementia also progresses quite differently in different people, and at different speeds. Royce Simmonds walked 300kms with it. We first picked it in my Mum about 9-10 years ago and she is still with us. We picked it up in my brother's Mother in Law about 2-3 years ago and she is no longer with us.
That collective family discussion is so important. First so that you don't dismiss it as seeing things, second so that you get a full picture, and most importantly if it is Alzheimer's you need to make some collective assessments about what is/isn't safe over time.
Some basic resources to start with in NZ: https://alzheimers.org.nz/about-dementia/booklets-and-factsheets/
I like https://www.linkedin.com/company/alzheimer's-research-uk/ because it's always encouraging to see work towards diagnostic tests and cures. Also https://www.linkedin.com/company/dementiaaustralia/ tends to be very practical.
An important thing the rest of us have to remember is: they don't know what they've forgotten. This is crucial when you are trying to keep your sanity later on when being asked for the fiftieth time over a cuppa "have you had a busy week?" etc.
We might be driven mad by it - but have to resist the urge to call them out on it. They get the same happiness from asking or telling you something over and over again. Because in their brain the thought or question has literally just occurred to them.
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One of the hardest things early on is convincing them to go to the Doc. Either they'll be conscious of it and in denial. Or they don't know what they've forgotten so nothing is wrong and you're all exaggerating.
Memory loss is well perceived in public knowledge of Alzheimers, but paranoia, shadowing, and sundowning are less well known, but are often just as present in the mid stages.
The memory does roll backwards over time. For the last year or so I've become my brothers name to Mum. He's the oldest. Youngest grandkids names mostly went about three years ago. But every now and then a circuit in the brain somehow fires, and a name will get used again.
Strangely enough in the context of the last few posts... I was told by one of the health pros along the way that one of the very last things we'd forget - because we learn it so early on - is how to ride a bike.
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Thinking back on how to get the Docs involved if a family member won't go, or will go but won't discuss memory issues once there. (Or won't remember to...!!!)
We did use a work around on the privacy issues. While a GP can't (easily) discuss a patient with you without consent... you can tell the GP what you are seeing at home. In our case we eventually wrote a fairly detailed letter from the family to Mum's GP, so that he had it on file next time he saw her. It seemed to help. Or find a reason to go with them.
GP's and co are crucial to https://www.govt.nz/browse/health/help-in-your-home/needs-assessment/ later on. Especially if deterioration is gradual/without major medical incident in the middle as a trigger for the health system to take over.
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@Donsteppa said in Happiness Scale:
Strangely enough in the context of the last few posts... I was told by one of the health pros along the way that one of the very last things we'd forget - because we learn it so early on - is how to ride a bike.
Unless perhaps you only learned when you were 11.... 😉
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Just spent a weekend in the high country with mates riding some fantastic roads. About 700km trip. For those that know the area, Alpine Way to Khancoban, back up to Cabramurra to Tumbarumba, Tumut to Jugiong via Brungle Rd.
Great weather, fantastic riding, mates and beer. Good way to spend a few days.
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This post is deleted!
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@antipodean Currently in Laos riding the HoChiMinh trail... lots of stuff well outside my comfort zone, but mostly enjoying it.
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@antipodean said in Happiness Scale:
Just spent a weekend in the high country with mates riding some fantastic roads. About 700km trip. For those that know the area, Alpine Way to Khancoban, back up to Cabramurra to Tumbarumba, Tumut to Jugiong via Brungle Rd.
Great weather, fantastic riding, mates and beer. Good way to spend a few days.
you just made those place names up
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@Kruse very jealous. Stay on the trail mind.
Laos is the most heavily bombed country per capita in the world, with an estimated 80 million UXO still scattered nationwide. Of the bombs dropped by the U.S. military, 30% remain undetonated, leading to casualties every year.
According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, more than 2 million tons of bombs were dropped on Laos during intense air raids during the war. The explosives included some 270 million small cluster bombs.
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@voodoo said in Happiness Scale:
@antipodean said in Happiness Scale:
Just spent a weekend in the high country with mates riding some fantastic roads. About 700km trip. For those that know the area, Alpine Way to Khancoban, back up to Cabramurra to Tumbarumba, Tumut to Jugiong via Brungle Rd.
Great weather, fantastic riding, mates and beer. Good way to spend a few days.
you just made those place names up
You've never been to Dunedoo?
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@dogmeat yeah, plenty of evidence of the bombing around the place. Big bomb shells being used as fences, decorations, structural supports, canoes... Fucking absurd amount of bombing... In a "covert operation".
And the MAGS and Halo chaps around the place dealing with the XPO... a 500lb bomb had been discovered in the middle of the town we stayed at three days ago... guys at the hotel were figuring out what to do with it. It's messed up stuff.
Did some pretty out there track a couple of days ago, where I definitely wasn't going to stray even 30cm off the track to take a piss... -
Plans for Saturday.
Leave here shite and briny in the a.m. Head towards the big smoke.
Leave Mrs Boo to guard the cats and sit the house.
Stop in Sunny Coast to collect female offspring.
Proceed to gold class cinema on North side of Brisbane for late morning screening of Dune 2.
Order lunch to have with movie while reclining.
Watch Dune 2 with female offspring, with whom I had watched first instalment (Mrs Boo not fussed).
Proceed to accommodation on South Bank of River mid afternoon.
Have quiet or two with offspring.
Proceed by foot to Suncorp, approx 15mins, late afternoon, early evening for very civilised 6:30 kick off (thanks to Queensland's refusal to join the civilised world in enjoying daylight "savings" (as Qlders know it)).
Watch Chiefs play as well as they did last week (work with me here jinx gods), with likely uninterested offspring who only came because I am old and I'm going to die soon and she should spend more time with me (actual phrasing). Seats somewhere between 10m and 22, broadcasting side of the field*.
Breakfast Sunday somewhere on South Bank.
Return home, dropping offspring on way.
Added bonus of not watching Blackcaps v Aus.
What are you poor people doing?
- bonus points if anyone is old enough to recall who used to use that phrase in commentary ...
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@booboo said in Happiness Scale:
What are you poor people doing?
Babysitting a three-year-old and a one-year-old in rural Wellsford overnight. Apparently, this means we have to be at Wellsford at 1:00 pm Saturday to get instructions. Really? How hard can it be? Food in this end. Shit out the other. Don't confuse the two...
We also have to have breakfast with the returning parents on Sunday, so whole weekend fucked.
Wanna swap?
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@dogmeat said in Happiness Scale:
@booboo said in Happiness Scale:
What are you poor people doing?
Babysitting a three-year-old and a one-year-old in rural Wellsford overnight. Apparently, this means we have to be at Wellsford at 1:00 pm Saturday to get instructions. Really? How hard can it be? Food in this end. Shit out the other. Don't confuse the two...
We also have to have breakfast with the returning parents on Sunday, so whole weekend fucked.
Wanna swap?
Erm why did you agree to it … ?
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I'm off to a golf weekend at Bonville in Coffs Harbour with 15 other blokes. Genuine highlight of the year, been collecting brownie points so I can cash them in at once. Thankfully in-laws coming to stay to help wife with the kids so the guilt is slightly less.
Of course the key to this is to never ever sell it as a good time. It's fine. There might even be a few brief moments of enjoyment, but really I'd much prefer to be at home...
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@barbarian said in Happiness Scale:
Of course the key to this is to never ever sell it as a good time. It's fine. There might even be a few brief moments of enjoyment, but really I'd much prefer to be at home...
does she buy that?
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@taniwharugby said in Happiness Scale:
@barbarian said in Happiness Scale:
Of course the key to this is to never ever sell it as a good time. It's fine. There might even be a few brief moments of enjoyment, but really I'd much prefer to be at home...
does she buy that?
Oh of course not. Hiding the hangover is also part of it. And the overall cost of the thing.
Happiness Scale