Extreme Knitting Redhead: Spring has sprung!

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

Spring has sprung!

Spring is definitely my favourite season for so many reasons - I hate dark mornings but I love seeing all the flora and fauna bursting ibto life. Here are some photos of our recent visitors:

They're naughty and destroy the fruit trees but we don't mind as there's plenty for all of us. The next day after we had a mummy and 2 youngsters but we haven't seen them since. More of my Amarylis are flowering now and this next one is named 'Naughty Girl"!

As usual I have far too mnay knitting, crochet and sewing projects on the go which Shelley likes to help with! She also enjoys watching her new boyfriend from along the lane. As she's an indoor cat she's happy to play indoors and enjoys watching the wildlife through the windows. We do take her out on a lead sometimes but have to stay close to home as she gets terrified if a car/van passes along the lane.

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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.