Extreme Knitting Redhead: Pounding out the miles

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Pounding out the miles

Well it was more like squelching actually as the ground is so wet and claggy after all the rain we've had recently. At least it wasn't flooded though and I just had to deal with loads of mud rather than flood water. I did 16 miles across the fields today and it was quite a struggle 'cos of all the slipping and sliding around in the mud. Never mind, it's another long run under my belt. Photos will be uploaded soon........

1 comment:

Linda said...: I just found your blog today, and read your Mum's story. It's very similar to my mum's story. When she was 65, we noticed she was starting to behave a bit oddly, but nothing terrible. As the years wore on, we moved her in with my sister, and for the last five years, she did not recognize me or my brothers; she referred to my sister as "her mother". She saw other people all the time, too. Things got so bad last winter, when she started hitting my sister, the decision was made to place her in a nursing home; she died in her sleep four days after that decision was made. She was 78. It makes me so mad - she was in perfect health otherwise, and should have been enjoying her children and grandchildren instead of being in the grip of this terrible disease.

My sympathies to you.; February 5, 2008 at 5:31:00 PM PST

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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.