A life in the day of.........................

[Helen33]

Hello Sylvia

That t.v. thing that Deborah mentioned has got me thinking. Alan often says now "have they gone" or "is it just you and me here". I am always puzzled by what he must be thinking at the time because it's not said after visitors have been but often when we've been alone all day. I am now wondering whether he believes we have company when the t.v. is on at times. Food for thought.

I am sorry that Dhiren is so tired but glad that there is no sundowning tonight.

Hope you have a good night Sylvia.

Love

 

[Grannie G]

Thank you Helen.

It is the beauty of TP that the thoughtfulness and insight of others often throws a different light on a problem.

Like Alan, Dhiren also often says `have they gone?` or `is it just you and me here?` and I was concerned he was hallucinating. Now I will take note of what`s happening when he says these things.

I am just having a quiet hour to myself now he is in bed. But I will be going myself soon, so goodnight.

 

[Helen33]

Goodnight Sylvia.

 

[Grannie G]

Too many pears...............

My online shopping order arrived. I think I was a bit heavy handed with the + sign. I received my pear order x 4.

Fortunately they are not all ready for eating. Unfortunately pears don`t store well in the fridge.

So I arranged them in a fruit bowl, making sure there was room to allow the air to circulate. I put the ripest ones in a separate bowl, ready for eating.

But Dhiren can`t cope with the quantity.

He ate 3 then and there. He has been pressing those in the bowl to see which are ripe. Because of the quantity, some fell out and bounced or rolled on the floor. He has taken a couple into the living room where it is warm, to ripen them quickly.

He is worried we have so many pears.

 

[gigi]

Hello Sylvia...

He is worried we have so many pears.

....You won't have for much longer.....

Love gigi xx

 

[Lynne]

Oh dear Sylvia, if Dhiren is going to be tucking into pears (especially some unripe ones ) you had better double up on the loo-roll order!

Perhaps you could cook some up - I lerve cooked pears, Yum!

Oh well, hope that's the worst thing he can find to worry about today.

 

[Grannie G]

It`s Ok........

..........he`s forgotten about them now.

 

[jenniferpa]

Or if you're not so keen on cooked pears, you can cook them, puree them and then use them in baking as a fat substitute - there are lots of recipes online and they work quite well in things that are supposed to be moist (e.g. brownies).

 

[Canadian Joanne]

Thank goodness for that.

I was responding to Sylvia but Jennifer is speedier than me.

 

[Grannie G]

Thanks Jennifer

Or if you're not so keen on cooked pears, you can cook them, puree them and then use them in baking as a fat substitute

Now that is music to my ears. I haven`t heard of that one before and will certainly try it.

Sundowning tonight
D `Don`t forget to give me your address before I go.`
S ` Don`t worry, I`ll remember.`
D `Do you live somewhere in Manchester?`
S `No. I live here.`
D laughing....`And I live here with you. How could I forget.`

Hallelujah!!!

 

[DeborahBlythe]

Boom and bust

Oh! That's good news Sylvia!

I enjoyed reading about the pears. (Sorry, but I think you meant us to, no?)

My elderly pear tree has finally succumbed this year to creeping blight and an attack of rampant ivy, so no pears at all. Usually the garden is awash with them: a source of delight to wasps, birds and butterflies, and to us too.. To catch them before they fell, we bought one of those long-handled fruit pickers with a little fishing net thingy at the top, because the tree is so tall. The picker was a brute to manouevre and has lain rusting for a few years now.

So I'm envying your pear delivery and wish you were closer so I could drop by and cadge some off you. Unfortunately I can't think of anything that you might covet in exchange so perhaps it's a good thing I'm not loitering at your door on the scrounge. I don't think D will come to too much grief on an excess of pears. Hope not anyway.

Wishing you both a peaceful night.
Love Deborah xx

 

[jenniferpa]

This is a fairly non-commercial site that talks about this. The tips at the bottom are particularly helpful.

http://life.familyeducation.com/foods/nutrition/36580.html

 

[smileyman]

Message No 02

Hello, Margarita, Norman, alfjess, jenniferpa, Lanie, Grannie G, Hellen33, crazyjude, lesmisralbles, jc 141265 and merlin,
Many thanks for all your replies. I have tried to reply to all of you as individuals but I am not sure if my replies have gone through. Still trying to work out the software of TP.
Thank you for all your advice and possible causes. Many of these have been investigated but still no solutions.
Unfortunately over this dizzy period we have come across a lot of medical 'possibility' and 'probability' and we are still working in the dark.
You never stop looking.
Many thanks to you all.
Smileyman

 

[Grannie G]

Thank you smileyman and Jennifer

Dear smileyman.
You`ll get the hang of it eventually. It is not the easiest site to navigate but once you know how you`ll wonder why you found it difficult.

Dear Jennifer,
I`ve bookmarked that link. Thank you. It will be an interesting experiment, [and an excuse for baking]

9/11 2001
We have just watched a programme about people who were staying at the Marriott Hotel, which stood in the shadow of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre, and who survived the 9/11 massacre.

My memory is vivid as we watched the whole horror unfold. We had been watching the Trades Union Conference and it was interrupted with a news flash.
Like millions of others we sat glued to our seats, unable to believe what we were seeing.

I have memories of sitting here, in our living room .
But on checking, I realize the event happened in 2001. We didn`t move to this house until December 2002. I have to accept we watched it in our last house in Bury, Lancashire, but I find it really hard to believe.
It shows how memory plays tricks.

Dhiren has no recollection of the event whatsoever. Watching this evening, he thought he was witnessing an earthquake.

 

[Grannie G]

Sundowning...........

I was woken at 12.30am. being challenged by Dhiren who said he has `not a penny in my pocket`, and who wanted a discussion about his pension and his bank.

I have refused to discuss it at this time of night. I have had half an hour`s sleep and am now wide awake.

He has accused me of treating him `like dirt` and `like a slave`.

I have insisted we sit in separate rooms.

He asked what right I have to live in his house and I told him it is my house as much as his.

He asked if I was his wife. He thinks I have only been his wife since we lived in this house.

When I listed the houses I have lived in with him throughout our marriage, he didn`t believe me but said if it is true he is sorry.

 

[BeckyJan]

Hello Sylvia:

I feel such sadness at your post! I just hope today is better and Dhiren now believes you! (- we all do!!)

Thoughts with you - Jan

 

[Lynne]

Oh Sylia

Sundowning is bad enough at sundown, but in the wee small hours you must have felt like shoving Dhiren off the roof!
(Of course you don't feel like that now, but 'in the moment' I would have done ) Are you suffering doubly now, with a bad case of D. remorse, or has he forgotten?

 

[Derek]

You have my sympathy too. I was woken about 4am the other morning and asked if it was not time I got lunch ready for everyone (there are only the 2 of us!)
Regards
Derek

 

[Helen33]

Hi Sylvia

Hope you and Dhiren are now catching up on lost sleep. Do you think this might have just been a one-off at that time of the morning - hope so.

Love

 

[Mameeskye]

Hi Sylvia

Poor you, being woken in the night. You have my sympathies. Mum was always confused upon waking up. It is so hard when you need sleep (speaking here as a Mum who has had to do the concerned thing when woken by an upset child with wet bed, or being sick etc, when all you want to do when you are tired is scream ..I understand the pushing off the roof thing only too well lynne! )

It is funny how memories can play tricks isn't it, but it does deepen your understanding of how the dementia must feel. Like everyone else I remember being in the office on the day and the primary process crew telling us what was happening, then a little later being on an IT line as the consultant got the email to say the US colleagues were sent home and closing down for 3 days.

I was 6 months pregnant and C did somersaults in my tummy that night and the upset it caused me and by transfer to my babies, my feelings for the mothers that I understood for the first time what motherhood meant......

Turning to Classic FM to get away from the news coverage...

Some things I wish I could forget, but as a race if we could forget we would never learn...