One of our close friends was taken into hospital following a stroke.He had already shown signs of dementia and this won't have helped.This friend has had such an interesting life,RAF,worked in Paris for five years,back to the UK and then to Basel for two years etc.It is so sad to see him declining.He is now home and we shall visit tomorrow.
On Friday we went to a funeral,a woodland burial.Kate had only been ill for three weeks but was diagnosed with an acute form of leukaemia and she went down hill rapidly.She was only 73.The woodland burial was quite strange.Obviously in a wood but nowhere to sit and no shelter.Thank goodness the rain held off.Also at the funeral was a friend whose wife has got severe dementia at the age of seventy.Which is the worse situation?Brian whose wife has died or Arthur whose wife has dementia.What do you think?
Now onto brighter topics.On Thursday we went to Manchester to meet our granddaughter Ella who is just about to finish her first year at Uni.She wanted to show us the Northern Quarter full of little shops,bars,coffee shops and vintage clothing which she is into.We had a leisurely coffee,had a wander and then a lovely lunch.We are loving having her less than an hour away.
In my OH's family there was always the joke that he had Italian ancestors but no one ever believed him.On Friday I decided to subscribe to Ancestry.co.uk and dig deeper into my family history.Yesterday we started looking into his and blow me,he is right.We traced his family tree back to the mid 1800s and there is the Italian He came from Lucca in Tuscany and was a modeller in clay.We have also found some mention of him in industrial journals.He would make ornamental things to go in or on buildings.C was over the moon to prove he is part(a small part) Italian but who would want to leave Tuscany and come to Manchester?
A final note ,my S in law who is very security minded and computer savvy had a call from"BT" who managed to get enough details to take £15,000 out of his business account.Fortunately the bank didn't pay as it was the weekend .Beware!!!!
As we age and see our friends we have known for years suffer, pass on or just linger, saddens us deeply. They leave a void. It touches our own lives and we wonder what's in our future. The good news is that we have today and it sounds like you are not slowing down!!
ReplyDeleteI want to go with a bang.
ReplyDeleteWow so much going on with the people you care about. Dementia is a horrible disease. My mother had it for years and I would not wish that on anyone. The slow decline is torture.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful week.
So sorry to hear about your friends, it is hard when we lose those we have known a long time or see them declining. Dementia is a dreadful thing especially for those who care for and about the person involved:)
ReplyDeleteThank you for your visit to my blog and lovely comment. Its always nice to have new visitors stop by and then visit with them.
ReplyDeleteSuch a lot of sadness for you and your friends, these diseases are so awful for all concerned.
Sounds like a good visit with your granddaughter. I think Dementia is very hard on people, and the severity of it is so hurtful for people. Neither it or death or good, but at least Death, the person is pain free. So sorry for your loss. I had a very good friend who died very young of Alzheimer's. She was only 50 when diagnosed and was able to do anything for herself, not brush her own teeth, bath, etc. Truly very sad.
ReplyDeleteDementia is a terrible illness. I took part in a medical study that has identified a gene responsible for some types of dementia. Luckily, I don't have the gene. But there are lots of other causes. So there is still a lot of work to be done with this illness.
ReplyDeleteAs for the BT scam, I don't know how some people sleep at night. I get cross now when scammers phone me. I tell them to start living an honest life, and then block their number.
It's hard to see our family and friends suffering from bad health as they get older. Dementia is such a horrible disease, it runs in both sides of my family, it's hard for both those suffering from it and their loved ones too. It's so interesting to trace your family tree, I did a lot of research a number of years ago but got stuck so put it to one side for a while but I've got back into it again recently. It's fascinating discovering so many things that you never knew.
ReplyDeleteFamily history is fun and the Internet makes it more accessible nowadays. That is nice your OH can now prove he is part Italian, he knew it all along. I don't answer the phone if I don't recognize the number, if it is important they can leave voice mail.
ReplyDelete