DEMENTIA AND HOW OTHERS SEE US

There are two kinds of people who affect dementia people. The first are those wonderful caregivers who have accepted the huge challenge of looking after us. These are the best people able to say if our dementia status is deteriorating or static. The second kind of people are those who think that dementia is contagious and a bit like e bola or aids. These people may change their views in due course, or they may not, but they are best ignored. Our caregivers are able to objectively assess our status. We ourselves are not really qualified to do so because our very condition makes us forget what we have forgotten. Also, if our cognitive abilities are deteriorating, we may think that the situation is unchanged, but our caregivers will probably notice. In my own case I like to be advised of any changes, but others may prefer to remain in ignorance. Everyone must make up their own minds about this. My caregiver Julian thinks that there has been some slight deterioration in my reasoning ability and I am also aware of a memory blank, which is something that hasn't happened for a long time. So all in all a disappointing week, but my reading and writing goes on, so there is life in this old dog still At home all is well except for a bit of intrusion by spiders. I am from UK where as far as I know we do not have any poisonous spiders and personally I have no fear of them and delighted that they catch a lot of flies. Here in South Africa it's a different story, there are a lot of spiders and many are poisonous. For some reason our garden has a very active spider population, partly no doubt because of the many jungle like trees that we have. The problem is that Julian and I love the jungle look. Anyway, the other night one of the family saw a large spider in the bathroom. He promptly leapt up on the side of the bath and the spider scuttled away and hid. Despite the most thorough search we couldn't find the intruder and we were all very wary and put on slippers when walking about. This was a sound idea, but if you are ever in a similar situation and you get up in the night to go the loo, it is not sufficient to step into your slippers, you must check that a spider isn't inside. or you will either get bitten or end up, as I did with a squashed spider on your foot. I am told that I screamed, but still being in a state of shock I don't remember. Sometimes this memory thing can be a blessing. David Barnato. Paarl. South Africa.