Night Shift

Sorry for the slow reply, @Former-Member. That's such a sad turn of events for your friend with dementia. My godmother succumbed about a year or so back and is in high care now. Like your friend, she's always been a quiet gentle soul. She took herself off to uni when her kids left school and finished a degree when she about 50 or so, and I've always known her to be quite intelligent. Now she struggles to make eye contact, can't hold down a conversation and has difficulty eating by herself. I try to visit her about every second week, because she's not far away, fortunately. At first, I found it sad and confronting, but I fairly quickly adapted and I really enjoy spending time with her and the other residents and staff.

Strangely, it's been very good for me. I think it's about being able to keep her company and engaging with her in the simplest of ways, like playing with clothes pegs and tracing over pictures in magazines. It's very calming and I feel useful and that there's absolutely no judgement of me. I even feel quite a sense of closeness with her, though it doesn't feel like an effort to maintain the relationship. Naturally, I leave with a sense of gratitude and appreciation for my health, despite my wonky brain.

That's really interesting about the early trauma connection. I hadn't heard that, so have done a little reading up thanks to your tipoff. I've tried to stay informed about Altheimers but it's amazing how comparatively little there is around - especially in regard to how to support people with it. The Altzheimers Australia web site is pretty good. Talking to the staff is always an excellent learning opportunity and they're always keen to hear insights into her background, so they can use them to try to engage her. Also, check out Paro the robot baby harp seal on YouTube. It's awesome. 🙂

Anyhow, I hope you're able to make the trip and, if so, that you find it worthwhile.

Cheers for now. 🙂

Hi @Former-Member. Nice to note there's a fellow ex-digger on the forum. 🙂 I'd wanted to be a cop, like yourself, but (thank God!) my eyesight wasn't up to standard. Reserves were fun though. As you say, having someone make decisions for you isn't always such a bad thing. Lol.

Ha! Just reading back through these posts, as I've just logged on. You're ex Army too, hey @TAB Looks like we have us a small squad. Lol 🙂

Ah yes! I saw that too! Might have been Quantum? It was excellent. 🙂

Haha inbetween being at RAP getting no PT 'chits' and SLRs, L4a4s L2A2s, hey, we had 'back catalogue' re 'gats' .. lol fieldforce signals .. a LONG time ago ..lol

..'yarmas' 'Ki' "goffas' lol oh .. CB .. ye ap.. @Former-Member @Former-Member