Earthquake v Alzheimer’s
It all started out as a normal day with me waking up at 2am and after downing two cups of coffee (to get my adrenaline going) I sat at the computer formulating a new Word Puzzle for the Alzheimer’s Forum which as a rule is the best time of day for me to do any type of work that needs a lot of concentration as its very quiet and without any added distractions from members of the family trying to talk to me which normally is in three different languages which in itself can be very confusing at the best of times.
Everything was going well and I had almost finished the word puzzle as the family woke up and where moving around the house at 4-30am, when all of a sudden I started to have a peculiar sensation in my head and body that I can only describe as a feeling like being drunk (from what I remember of my youthful days) the whole room seemed to be swimming round and round, my body felt as though it was swaying out of control and my vision was becoming blurred, my initial reaction was I’m having a stroke again, I tried to pull myself out of my chair but I’d become so disorientated I couldn’t move, all I could hear was people shouting and screaming outside as our cats went crazy dashing around the rooms trying to hide, the song birds who normally sing sweet songs of the early morning where frantically flapping there wings in there cages then suddenly the electricity went off leaving me in the semi darkness, as I gazed around the room I could see that our hanging ornament and lights where swinging to and fro of there own accord as the crockery sounded rattling noises in the sideboard, picture frames on the walls where moving out of alignment as the walls and windows started to shudder along with my cup of coffee, then the penny dropped as I realized it was not my Alzheimer’s mind but an Earthquake.
I finally managed to get out of my chair and stand up and could feel the ground shaking under my feet, I could hear my wife and family shouting at me to get out of the house but there voices didn’t register in my thoughts I’d become transfixed as though frozen to the floor with my body trembling in agitation as though I where having my own bodily earthquake, it seemed like ages before I could get my legs into motion as my wife came rushing into the house to find me searching round the room asking what are you looking for, I said I want my walking stick I feel unstable! At this point I’d best not type her reply about the walking stick! Suffice it to say she gently took me by the arm and shuffled me out the house into the roadway to be with all our neighbours many of whom where still in there nightwear and all nosily talking at the same time about the early morning wake up call as the trees and overhead power lines continued swaying around from the tremor.
Although we often have earth tremors where I live this is the worst I’ve every experienced as it seemed to go on for so long but in reality it only lasted about 10 seconds but the effects on my body and mind where traumatic, if someone asked me how best could I explain the feelings and anxiety we have within our illness then I could compare it to experiencing an Earthquake as you feel as though the whole world is about to crumble beneath your feet and its certainly not a pleasant sensation, fortunately for us there was no damage apart to my own confusion as it was only a minor tremor, but it does bring home the reality of just how people must have felt during the recent Earthquake in Italy and emphasizes my daily quote to myself:
Quote:
“What is my dementia but a mere irritation of body and mind when compared to others true hardship in life”Barry
