Extreme Knitting Redhead

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Maybe this time it will work............ success at last! It seems to sum up what this year has been about. Now I just need to hear back from eBay so I can get the auction underway. It's quite exciting as I've never sold anything on eBay before and I really have no idea what the response will be. I hope it goes well as I really want to raise more money for the Alzheimer's Research Trust

On the knitting front I'm romping away with the twisted scarf for my friend Carol (who really needs a bit of cheering up at the moment) and Mike's second fingerless mitt is plodding along in the background. I'm itching to start a wide scarf for myself but I can't as I'm still waiting for one ball of yarn. Grrr! Probably just as well as I do tend to have too many things on the go at once.

Tut Mutts, if you pop along I'll try and write out how I did the thumb shaping asap. I'm considering trying another pair soon but might choose a different pattern, just for a change.

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Mum's Story

In 1997 my mother, then aged 81, had a series of minor strokes. Shortly after that we started to notice behavioural changes notably memory loss and confusion over everyday items. We thought it was just old age finally catching up with her. Then she started wandering and had violent mood swings. Although she already lived with us it became obvious that she couldn't be left alone for long and so I left my job to care for her. The next few years saw a gradual decline into the blackness that is 'vascular dementia'. My normally placid mum became violent and aggressive. She had psychotic incidents where she would see imaginary people (children hiding in her wardrobe, Russians sitting on the stairs, women stealing her clothes) and she would shout at them and sometimes throw things too. She was so convincing that we used to go and check that there wasn't anyone there! When my sister died mum did not know who Judy was or that she was her daughter. There came a point when I suddenly realised she no longer knew that I was her daughter and this was a terrible time for me. In the last 2 years that she lived with us, life for us all became almost unbearable as she needed 24 hour care - she couldn't be left alone at all because she would either wander off or hurt herself, she never slept for more than 30 minutes at a time during the night, she became incontinent and incapable of doing anything for herself. Finally my husband and I realised that we could no longer provide her with the care that she needed and she went to live in a special care home where the team did a splendid job caring for her in the last few months of her life. There she lived a zombified existence unaware of who she was, what she was or where she was. It was heartbreaking. She died in March 2005, the day after her 89th birthday.

Thank you for taking the time to read mum's story and I hope you'll dig deep and sponsor me using the link below to help find a way of beating this destructive disease.