Dining Out
With
Family
The last few days have been so busy, we had family down for a couple of days and I always feel as if I am letting people down if I don’t join in as much as I can. After visiting nearby Teignmouth with my brother in law and his family arrangements were made to all go out for a meal last night. Now normally I would shy away from these types of things but I had had such a good day I was quite looking forward to it. As the day progressed I knew I was getting more tired and eventually just before we met up with the other eight members of the family at the restaurant near Paignton Pier my speech was awful. The thing is with AD the clouds never come when you want, like bedtime, always when you don’t want!!
By the time we were all settled as we ordered my wife did the ordering for me and a nice Chilli was on the way. The thing is the conversation; I am not the quietest person in the room normally and when I am people tend to notice!!LOL We hadn’t seen our relations for nearly seven years and a lot was being talked about.
To say it was frustrating to try and keep up with the conversation would be an understatement, let alone try to join in! I think I managed to dodge and weave most of the talking but then it was time for pudding. Everybody ordered and my wife could quite clearly tell i was struggling so ordered me ice cream, it’s easier. Then, twenty minutes after it had arrived I looked up from my pudding to find everyone looking at me. I later found out I had just been playing with it and must have gone into some sort of Catatonic trance as I had just stirred it and stirred it into a cream paste! I tried to make light of it but it wasn’t going to work. It wasn’t so much the older ones but the two teenagers who are my niece and nephew i felt sorry for as i don’t think they quite understood what was going on.
After the meal we made are excuses and said our goodbyes, with them being most understanding. I staggered back to the car with my wife holding me up as if i was drunk!! (Chance would be a fine thing!) i was home and in bed by eight thirty and sound asleep soon after. I suppose what i am trying to say is even when you have family all around you, and we are all very close, as an AD sufferer the embarrassment never diminishes as I’m sure it doesn’t for carers and loved ones..The reason we get so frustrated and very down is even though we know most of our families/loved ones understand we can still see the hurt in their eyes and it hurts us so much, knowing we are unable to ease those feelings for them. Last night’s sleep was a peaceful one and we got a call to say the family are all home safe and sound after a four hour drive home,
Best wishes, Norrms and family
With
Family
The last few days have been so busy, we had family down for a couple of days and I always feel as if I am letting people down if I don’t join in as much as I can. After visiting nearby Teignmouth with my brother in law and his family arrangements were made to all go out for a meal last night. Now normally I would shy away from these types of things but I had had such a good day I was quite looking forward to it. As the day progressed I knew I was getting more tired and eventually just before we met up with the other eight members of the family at the restaurant near Paignton Pier my speech was awful. The thing is with AD the clouds never come when you want, like bedtime, always when you don’t want!!
By the time we were all settled as we ordered my wife did the ordering for me and a nice Chilli was on the way. The thing is the conversation; I am not the quietest person in the room normally and when I am people tend to notice!!LOL We hadn’t seen our relations for nearly seven years and a lot was being talked about.
To say it was frustrating to try and keep up with the conversation would be an understatement, let alone try to join in! I think I managed to dodge and weave most of the talking but then it was time for pudding. Everybody ordered and my wife could quite clearly tell i was struggling so ordered me ice cream, it’s easier. Then, twenty minutes after it had arrived I looked up from my pudding to find everyone looking at me. I later found out I had just been playing with it and must have gone into some sort of Catatonic trance as I had just stirred it and stirred it into a cream paste! I tried to make light of it but it wasn’t going to work. It wasn’t so much the older ones but the two teenagers who are my niece and nephew i felt sorry for as i don’t think they quite understood what was going on.
After the meal we made are excuses and said our goodbyes, with them being most understanding. I staggered back to the car with my wife holding me up as if i was drunk!! (Chance would be a fine thing!) i was home and in bed by eight thirty and sound asleep soon after. I suppose what i am trying to say is even when you have family all around you, and we are all very close, as an AD sufferer the embarrassment never diminishes as I’m sure it doesn’t for carers and loved ones..The reason we get so frustrated and very down is even though we know most of our families/loved ones understand we can still see the hurt in their eyes and it hurts us so much, knowing we are unable to ease those feelings for them. Last night’s sleep was a peaceful one and we got a call to say the family are all home safe and sound after a four hour drive home,
Best wishes, Norrms and family