Extreme Knitting Redhead: February 2025

Saturday, February 1, 2025

February

Firstly I want to send my love and thoughts to everyone in the USA. Such shocking news footage and so many lives lost. My thoughts and prayers are with you at this very sad time. It's the 1st February today and I was going to name it "Fabulous February" but changed my mind as Mike is poorly, bless him. We seem to be getting old and cronky! Such is life.

Just checking my gauge for a new sweater pattern. The yarn has been sitting in my stash just waiting for the right pullover and hopefully this will be it. Having said that, I keep flitting from pattern to pattern and not making my mind up so who knows what I'll start next - it certainly isn't my best square!!!!

As the Seville oranges are about, I made a small batch of Marmalde and froze the rest of the oranges. It truly is the best marmalade and the kitchen smells divine. Shelley brought a present for me to play with her as she was bored of waiting for me to finish!

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.