SERIOUS ADVANCE IN HELPING MEMORY LOSS

One Sunday the Minister in the local church decided to stimulate his congregation a little. " I'm going to say a single word and then you must sing what comes to mind." The congregation were a bit nervous, but waited with interest for the Minister to start. "Cross." He said. After a moments hesitation someone started to sing rather hesitantly 'The Old Wooden Cross.'The others soon followed and soon the whole congregation were singing lustily. Then the Minister said;"Grace." This time everyone quickly joined in singing 'Amazing Grace' and it was the best singing that the church had ever had. Next he said "Power" and the hymn 'There is Power in the Blood' quickly soared throughout the church. They were all enjoying themselves immensely and waited expectantly for the next challenge."Sex." Said the minister. The congregation were stunned and shifted uncomfortably until a little old lady aged 87 began to sing in a quavering voice;"Precious Memories." After some giggling the others joined in. Yesterday there was a very interesting article in the Cape Times. It was about an American Government initiative which had found that following intensive training people with memory loss problems were almost all able to delay any further deterioration for five years. This is obviously quite attractive, but more importantly the patients' ability to organize affairs was stopped from further deterioration for ten years. The Organization is called the National Institute of Health which is part of the Medical Research Agency, I am endeavouring to find out more about this and will report in due course. If anyone else knows about this or indeed any other interesting things that will help us all with memory loss. When I read the article it was the improvement in cognitive abilities that excited me. Memory loss is worrying, but with the right help can to a certain extent be managed by the patient and carers. However, problem solving is another matter and personally I would be very grateful for a ten year reprieve! Memory loss, dementia and alzheimers are a scourge, but if you are still young now is the time to maintain your good mental health. Good eating and not smoking are essential. In my own case my dementia has I am sure been brought on by heavy drinking. Although I see no memory improvement since I stopped my overall health has improved and this can only be a benefit. I am not aware of any serious memory deterioration this last week, so I remain optimistic. We had heavy rain last night, the first for months. It was obviously a Godsend for the garden, but as the temperature dropped poor old Boysie won't get shared swimming today. Bobby the parrot remains almost mute except for saying 'Hello' in the various voices that he has heard it from. I am currently trying to teach him to say "Pieces of Eight', like Long John Silver's parrot. I had the hope that he might then sit on my shoulder and we could walk around with him saying the magic words, however, Julian says that he is so fierce that he might just peck a hole in my ear! I think that I'll put that plan on hold. David Barnato Paarl South Africa