Hi Nell
I hope you got to watch the Four Corners program. I taped it and watched it today. It is wonderful and painful and heartbreaking and so familiar! I knew I couldn't watch it live so instead cried over the video.
It told the story of three couples and their journey through dementia: one dealing with early stages, one with middle stages and the third with later stages. Told mostly through the eyes of the spouse, the principal carer, Four Corners followed them for 12 months.
I was very reassured and amazed by the resilience of the carer and dementia sufferer. I was so glad there were no great crises. There was a lot of love and understanding and planning for the future, which is something I am constantly thinking about.
I could see my mum in Morrie who is in early stages, who can't remember the grandchildren's names but loves them and celebrates his birthday with gusto. Then Joan in the middle stages, even looked like my mum, with bright eyes and a gentle smile and look of slight bewilderment. Then the gorgeous and frail Daphne who is in the later stages, mutters terms of wonderful endearment to her husband.
I felt so moved by the program and to see a similar experience to my own. Although my dad passed away many, many years ago, and I guess I am mum's prime carer, I felt very close to the people in the documentary. (On a side note, recently in the Australian census there was a question for carers. My DP had to prompt me to say 'yes' to this question... I haven't really accepted I am a carer although I have accepted so much of my mum's condition... but that's a story for another post!!).
All the statistics of dementia are so scary but it's wonderful to see a program that shows the human face of the disease, the horrible disease that it is.
