IF NOBODY SAW IT THEN IT DIDN'T HAPPEN

Post 22 - June 2nd 2023

One of the things that happens with dementia is that the memory will go ... and one of the things that happens with dementia is that the memory will go

Ok, that's a bit rude I guess to make fun of this horrible illness, but I speak of my own journey with Lewy Body Dementia here on this blog and of the things that do happens, it can be a lot of fun. We try to make the best of this awkward situation. 

Ruth and I continually laugh at me. Well, that's also a bit rude, maybe I should say, laugh with me when I make some real-life bloopers as I move forward.

On earlier posts I told of some of the fun times this journey has thrown up for us both and today we can look at some more.

A common thing I now say is, “If nobody saw it, then it didn't happen.” But Ruth follows that comment with, “Well, if is did happen then what was it we would have seen?”

Most times I have no defence, so I have to deflect from my error. Meaning, I have developed a decent get out line, I simply say, “Well, if it did happen then it could have happened to anyone.”

Today, I was making a cup of tea for Ruth and instead of pouring the hot water from the jug into her cup with the tea bag, I poured the water into the container holding all the tea bags. Mmmmmmmmm, yeah, bummer, sounds abit like the Boston Tea Party of 1773. But today I didn't help myself because I laughed at my mistake and Ruth had to ask what happened. My line, “If nobody saw it, then it didn't happen,” is perhaps wasted at this point because my laughing has given away the fact that I messed up.

And speaking of water, well hot water, I have developed a bad habit of boiling the jug to make us a hot drink then inexplicably I pour the boiled water down the sink. Hey, if I only did that once then maybe all good, but alas, I seem to be repeating the mistake, over and over. I have no idea why. Maybe my neurological skills are so way off, maybe I am simply mixing up items and as a result I make these silly darn blues.

Last evening when I was cooking snags for our dinner, I repeated the old habit of turning the hot sausage in the hot pan by hand instead of using tongs. It is funny but it also hurts. I do try to cover over my mistakes at times but with a burn like this it can be hard to hide.

But my funniest cooking moment recently was using dishwashing liquid instead of oil to cook some fries. We keep both the dishing washing liquid and oil on the window bench near the gas cooker, when I started to cook, I took the dishwashing stuff and poured it into the pan.

Well, as the bubbles started, I was right onto my mistake, if I was cooking bubble and squeak then fine, but no, this was chips. So, after some laughter I was able to right the wrong and cook using the oil. The one thing I will say is that it made the cleaning of the pan easier with the dishwashing liquid already in play.

A few nights back I decided it was bedtime, so I went to lay in my bed. Ruth said, “Er, excuse me, but you need to hop under the blankets when it is sleep time.” I had laid on the bed as it was, yeah, would have been a cold night. Clearly, I had the bed bit right but somehow, I had not understood the pulling back the doona and actually hopping into the warm sheets.

The other morning, I sat to eat my vegemite and toast, first bite, oh my that is awful. It is after all just vegemite on toast, how could it taste so bad. Alas, a closer inspection it seems I had sprinkled the vegemite with salt and pepper so yeah, it was going to taste crap.

Ruth was not there when this happened so she will be reading it here for the first time. So again, I say, "If nobody saw it then it didn't happen." And for the record, it was the previous morning when I had sliced tomato on toast that I needed the salt and pepper. Simples.

Talking to myself, wow, I have some really great conversations. The old joke of talking to yourself is sort of ok just as long as you don't answer back. Mmmmmmmm, well, that is out the window because I find I am having both sides of a conversation with myself. And I enjoy that.

But I must keep an eye on Ruth when I have these one-on-one chats with myself. If I notice her sitting, there with pen and paper then I know I have reached the point of chatting out loud by giving out what could be incriminating thoughts. I could be giving away the secrets of my life, or worse. Ok, I jest of course but hey, maybe that time will come.

Speaking of Ruth, she had a birthday earlier in the week and no, I will not be giving away her age. Yeah, I might be on a downward slope with my cognitive thinking, but I know better than to do that, history has shown me it is smart to remain silent.

Yeah, my memory in that area is still fine.

But as I did say on a Facebook post on her birthday, I will not reveal her age however I will say that it is getting harder each year to fit all of the candles on her cake.

Ruth did have a good birthday. We had a road trip; I took her to a restaurant down at Wellington. The place is called Karma, we go in and Ruth said, "There is no menu" and I simply said, "In this place you get what you deserve."

Ok, I am probably wrong saying that, but sometimes as this clearly shows, all my ducks are not in a row, in fact they are not even in the same pond.

So, as this LBD journey continues then I am hoping the fun can remain. It is a sad journey knowing how this all ends but for now, Ruth and I still make our own fun, we do what we can to make sure we don't get bogged down and wallow.

For me personally, my mind is jumbled at times and while that is difficult, I am blessed to still be in control for the most part. 

Now, as this post comes to a close, as always, thanks for checking in, really appreciate you reading my blog.

Footy, mmmmmmm, been a rather hard watch for the season to this point but, Go Cats ...

So, as I do at the end of each post, I will leave you though with a JonnyG thought ...

My life at this moment includes chooks, lots of chooks, they are everywhere. So, here is my question.

Q: What do you call a chook staring at a pile of lettuce?

A: A chicken sees a salad ...