Category: Advocating

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Advocates Advocating Christine Thelker © 2020 Dementia For This I Am Grateful Good Grief Living well with Dementia Silver Linings Stress

Frozen

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I feel like I’m frozen, stuck, unable to put thoughts into action, thought yesterday was Sunday, it was Wednesday. Not navigating things, having the thoughts but unable to put the pieces into place to actual turn the thought into actions or into tasks being done.
Swirling about, feeling like I am being ineffective, unproductive, not being able to start or complete anything, the executive function part of my brain seems to be stalled at the moment, organizational skills have disappeared. Strangely the thoughts are all there but the ability to do is missing. Sure makes me appreciate those days of clarity, those days of doing things as I would have in the past.
It erodes your confidence, your self esteem, these are the hard bits, the bits we often don’t talk about, the hard stuff, the changes we feel, others may not notice, but we do, sometimes these are blips, they come and go, just like the blood flow is at times good, somedays the function is good sometimes not, this week it has been the worst it has ever been.
I am still considered to be doing well and managing well, but I can tell you this stuff is hard, it erodes and eats away at the very core of who we are. I know many who are having changes in their abilities at this time, I wondered how much of it may be from a delay of some sort of the effects of covid, of our worlds changing so much in how we do things, or did things, our isolation, many areas coming out of lockdowns, others deeply entrenched in them still. Although for many pieces and parts for those with dementia we have been living a life of more isolation since diagnosis but that was truly and is in fact much more so since covid, yes we used zoom etc long before most, but other areas of our lives have been greatly impacted, and sometimes I think we have not acknowledged that to the point we should.
I have been working hard trying to make a difference for others living with dementia, advocating, doing all I can, but in all honesty, and if I’m honest, I don’t know how much more of the fight I have in me before I just want to withdraw and stop all of it. It’s getting harder and harder, and when little ever changes, seeing some kind of tangible change would likely give many of us a much needed boost to keep going to keep fighting. It’s doubly hard when part of your brain has all the thoughts of what you want to do and the other part wouldn’t unlock enough to allow you to actually do them, it’s exhausting.
Or maybe it’s just this new piece of abilities changing and disappearing that I need to settle into, I’m not sure at the moment, my mind is like a bouncing ball these days, thoughts bouncing around, nothing ever coming of them, I hate feeling so unproductive.
They say growing old isn’t for sissies, I can tell you living with dementia will test you unlike anything else, battling ones own mind, then battling all the compounding medical challenges that present.
If I was able I would be somewhere near the ocean right know until all that is going on in this brain and body came to a new understanding with itself.

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Advocates Advocating Christine Thelker © 2020 Dementia Event For This I Am Grateful Living well with Dementia Silver Linings

The Swinging of the Pendulum

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Yesterday was a no go day for me, my system, my brain was on a shutdown, so it was a day at home, just trying to get from the start of the day to the end of the day. I thought of many things that I would, could, may and wanted to do, none of which happened, as I was unable to put any of it together, this is what happens on a bad brain day. I was happy enough to just be at home, and just be, to not try to have to navigate anything. This came after having three or four lovely days of being able to go for a drive, to go on my bike rides, but this is my life this is my vascular dementia.

Today my day started with an early morning in person visit with my doctor, he had asked for the meeting, I always feel so fortunate that he actually puts thought into my well being. He doesn’t just sit and wait for me to have to or need to see him, he is invested in my health care. So it was an unusually long visit and considering how many don’t get to see there doctors at all as with the pandemic most things are done via video calls or phone calls, again a silver lining for me, I am always grateful and understand how fortunate I am. We went over tests he had done, then we discussed why he does some the things he does, it was great to hear him explain that he doesn’t want to ever miss something, because everything gets attached to my vascular dementia, something else I am grateful.

We had a lengthy chat about palliative care, life and death, we talked about my husbands death, and my mom’s death, he was the doctor for both, and he helped and worked with me to ensure they had the kind of end of life and death that they wanted. Another piece of my gratitude. It was a really good talk, we talked about my own illness and how at this point and given the last 14 or 15 months I have had with my health, understanding that they cannot fix my vascular system, their is no magic pill, no surgery, not anything, we talked about what happens why I have these good runs of days and sometimes months of really challenging symptoms and stretches of being so unwell, we were discussing my blood flow, both agreeing and understanding that when my blood flow ( almost simultaneously we said its like there is a dam and the gate is open the flow is good, the gate closes, and it randomly effects different organs, different areas throughout my body, depends which area the gate is closed stopping paper flow, This is also why there is such a challenge with inflammation.

We both agree that I do all that I can to help myself, both nutrition wise, exercise, sleep, all the areas that I am able, if I didn’t things would be far worse than they are, even though they have gotten worse, that is in essence how vascular dementia works and for each person it will vary, this is my vascular dementia. He wanted to have this discussion, to ensure that I know that he will continue to help support me through the downturns and difficult times, and if that requires hospitalizations as it has over the last year or two, then thats what will happen, but he also wanted to ensure that I am fully trying to get the most out of my good days when they present themselves, and that the monitoring and knowing when I should just stay put is a very important piece. this was a conversation about my quality of life. It did me a lot of good to have these discussions with him today. As for my shot, he just wants to ensure I get it once I am notified of my appointment, which hopefully I will get that notification this week, for sometime in May, in the meantime, keep doing what I’m doing.

I know it was a doctors appointment, it felt like a visit with a friend, and a much needed chat, and as I have had a lot of things weighing heavy on me recently, and I will write about those in another blog, today did much for me.

We talk so often about the medical profession and how and the ways they could do better, I know having who I have in place as a doctor, has been and is not the norm for many. He is a shining example of what good doctoring can do for someone. And talking later today in a meeting about many things one being to remember to look for and find the things that are good despite our diagnosis, I was thinking that my doctor is definitely one of the good things that I have.

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Advocates Advocating Christine Thelker © 2020 Dementia For This I Am Grateful Good Grief Living well with Dementia Silver Linings

When I need too

My heart has been heavy, my soul weary, when I feel this way, when I feel like there is so much that needs to happen, so much needs to be done, yet not enough of us to carry the load, I know it’s time for me to go to that place where I can reground.
So after a busy day with multiple meetings yesterday, wondering how much gas I have left in the tank, already having scaled back, yet somehow still determined to do more, at 930 this morning, with my little dog in tow, a picnic packed, I’m pretty self sufficient, off to the woods we went. it was the perfect day, the warmest day we have had, that glorious day that the chill has finally left the breeze, the sun on your skin, warms you, it embraces you, it gives you that hug that for so so long because of covid, you’ve lacked. Somehow it it melts away the heaviness, the tiredness, and you can feel yourself start to breathe. You can here the wind as comes up the valley, it’s so good to hear nothing but the stillness, the wind, the hawk overhead, not a car, no one talking, a chipmunk chattering, the leaves rustling. The crunch of the ground below us as we explore around, gathering wood for a small fire, the crackle of the fire, the air felt so renewing.
I have watched over the last six months so many of us with dementia all feeling changes in ourselves, why so many of us, so seemingly simultaneously, has the underlying stress of covid had a bigger impact than we think or realize? Have we been feeling the effects of further isolation, further challenges to stay involved and connected? Many of us actually ended up busier, for most switching to online meetings has allowed more to be asked of us. Has all of the stress of trying to manage all of this all the while trying to just manage our day to day life during covid pandemic with a vastly misunderstood illness.
I’ve had so many conversations, lately, I feel the strain, I hear the angst, I hear the wanting to do more but not managing it, then feeling bad it’s a terrible place for them to be. I feel much the same way, the last year has seen my health take to many hits, too many hospitalizations, everything I do is harder, takes longer, and often just simply doesn’t happen.
So my happy place out in the woods, is where I go to recharge, to let my soul breathe, it’s what we all must do, find that place, if it’s the garden, standing in a steaming shower, shutting everything out and singing as loudly as you can. Do it, and reach out for those all important chats with a friend, share the fears, the tears, so the laughter can find its way again, we are normally ( at least those of us that I know) , who live with dementia are jovial and happy lot, but we get weary to, w e may be warriors, but every once in a while we need to take our cape off.
I stayed out in the woods not getting home till just before five, I refilled, recharged, shut the world off. It was good for me, I will need to do more of it in order to maintain doing all the things I want to do.
Supporting one another is vital, being compassionate understanding, encouraging each other to do things that require are good for us, even if it means we have to miss something along the way, looking out for each other.
We are all tired, we are weary, we are so appreciative of those who help us, for without them the toll we are all feeling would likely be much more.
I hope when this is all over we all get to reconnect, missing the conference in Singapore meant that much needed and important fac3 to face connections we get have been lacking. But after spending the day out in the woods, with Mother Nature I am reminded that their is a time of renewal, that everything has a cycle, spring evolves, hopeful for us all.








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Advocates Advocating Christine Thelker © 2020 Dementia For This I Am Grateful Living well with Dementia

Walking a Fine Line

I wonder if the buzz in the last couple years around “Dementia Friendly Communities “, is actually walking a fine line between doing good and doing harm. For years we have been fighting for the human rights of those living with Dementia to be recognized, for segregation to stop, yes it stills happens every locked Dementia unit in long term care homes is against the rights of those living with dementia and it is segregation at its worst. It’s my opinion that it’s the most cost effect measure to say they are looking after those with dementia and that’s it’s for their own safety, without having to actually take the time and put the resources in place to provide and promote quality of life. So it’s actually about money nothing but.
So I am working in my community on this idea of a dementia friendly community although I keep stressing it should be called an “all inclusive community”, not a dementia friendly which again is segregation from other groups with our communities. We don’t make MS friendly communities, Brain Injury friendly communities, Stroke friendly communities, so in fact are we doing more harm?, undoing so much work to stop segregation of people with dementia, by the simple choice of language. If you make an all inclusive community, it would encompass, the elderly, those with all physical and cognitive disabilities, including dementia.
In order to ensure they are given grants and funds they must show they are creating dementia friendly communities, that doesn’t mean that it has to go so far as to label it that way within the community. You can create education for business, groups within the community, and the general public that can truly creat a community that can embrace all who live there without the actual label.
We need to ensure because we get excited “that something” is finally being done for those with dementia that we don’t allow that fine line to be crossed. There is lots of work being done around “dementia friendly communities “ around the globe, I just hope there is enough input and voices of those with dementia who can and will ensure it doesn’t become another form of segregation.

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Advocates Advocating Christine Thelker © 2020 Dementia For This I Am Grateful Living well with Dementia Silver Linings

Saturday Morning Pondering

Life changed so much when I was diagnosed with Dementia, but I allowed myself and pushed myself to find new purpose, to find hope, to forge a new life, a different life, but it has become a good life. So very different for what was my life to what is my life, but I have settled into it, finding many reasons to be happy, to enjoy the simplest things in life.

Bring in Covid 19, everything I had set in place had to change again, lock downs meant further isolations, finding ways to manage and cope through those ( and continuing lockdowns, over a year and still the lockdowns continue). Finding ways to stay connected, engaged, hopeful and joyful, during a pandemic, brings the fight that is faced by those with dementia just in terms of living with their illness to a whole new level.

A compromised system, we all know and hear about how those living with Dementia are likely to have worse outcomes than others if they get covid 19, so keeping my house stocked so I can manage with the least amount of trips needed of going out in public for necessities. Yet still going for walks, going for solo drives, ( ok not totally solo, my little dog Pheobe by my side), she loves drives. She always walked a lot with me, but as she is approaching 17 in May, remarkable, she now mostly sleeps, especially this last little bit, in fact its 9 am she is still in bed. I watch and hover over her, she has been my world for so many years. After my husband died, I was a drift, losing him, I lost my whole family unit as it was, so when Pheobe came into my life, she filled me with love again, so know as I watch her slowly decline, sometimes I think she is trying to keep going for me.

my beautiful Pheobe

I know she sees and feels my decline and I see and feel hers, animals are so smart, so in tune and understand so much more than we often give them credit for. She has been such a blessing for so many years and through this Covid 19 Pandemic she for sure has been my saving grace.

Time is moving so fast or maybe it’s not, maybe it’s just that I am losing my ability to mange it. I feel like I have just lost a whole ten days, it was just March ending and somehow here we are at the 10th of April. Today I was looking at my new week of medications dropped of by the pharmacy yesterday, and I kept thinking this doesn’t seem right, he was just here delivering how can he be here again, another week gone, just gone, it made me go check to see in fact if I have been remembering to take the said medications, truthfully only missed a couple doses, so overall not bad.

The fact that time is disappearing or if it’s not then that means that I am disappearing more and more, not even sure which it is at this point. I think about all the things I still want to see completed my follow up book, completing my work with DAI, seeing changes take hold through advocating. So much I want to still accomplish, regardless of my dementia and regardless of Covid 19, but with the disappearing time, not sure if it’s possible. I can no longer manage without the help of my volunteer Angie, who without her help I would not be able to continue to do the advocating and things that bring so much joy and purpose to my otherwise stalemated life. I am so grateful to have her, and I encourage all who are living with dementia, yes do all you can for yourself but be brave enough to admit and get the help with the things you need help with, so that you can continue to live your best life.

But there is also the personal things, the people I would like to see, the trips I haven’t been able to take, the documentary I wanted to do, the backroads and small towns I have yet to visit, getting back to the ocean.

Somehow as Dementia robs us of so much, being hit with the added piece of Covid 19, seems to make it all more urgent, yet being stuck unable to get those things done, wondering if I will have the ability to hold steady until I can, or will I end up with a life incomplete?

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Advocates Advocating Christine Thelker © 2020 Dementia For This I Am Grateful Living well with Dementia Silver Linings

The Wheels Go Round and Round Or Do they?

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Wow, not sure what’s influenced my brain behaviour but the last few days have and are definitely showing the cracks. I just sat down decided to try to write because nothing else I’m trying to do cognitively is happening. Ok I’m back, side tracked again, something popped into my head so decided to go check the mail. This is how the last few days have been, it’s like a Ferris wheel going round and round and no one stopping it for anyone to get off. I know I do have days where it’s worse than others but the last few have been extremely bad, so bad that yesterday I finally just decided it best just to sit on the couch and not attempt anything else.

A million steps taken to go do something or start something, forgotten before I actually accomplished it, something else grabs my attention mid stream then off like a squirrel I go. The never ending treasure hunts I’m on these days that have, until know been confined to the space of my home has now spilled out to everywhere, or anywhere I might go or be. It’s not a wonder why by 6 pm I’m heading for bed navigating all these things is so exhausting. No time to be bored, living inside this body and mind. It’s like running a marathon with no finish line. I laugh about it a lot, but it is and can be so frustrating, and disheartening, it’s life with dementia.

So mostly on these types of days I just decide to try to have fun, do things that make me laugh, be patient or try to be until my brain decides to switch it up again when I will accomplish much, like nothings wrong, it’s like having your own game of brain teasers going on except it’s not a game, it’s real life and it’s your life.

I sometimes think that the weather impacts my dementia a lot. Not sure how many people pay attention to that, but I was wondering if this swirling fast changes weather and barometric changes are impacting things for me. Just like the changing of the moon and the tides can impact I am convinced the weather systems do as well. If I had the ability to remember to track it and write it down the corresponding bad brain days ( or at the very least worsening)with weather patterns I would perform my own little study, unfortunately because those functions are no longer reliable for me and I live alone it’s not possible. But it is good for thought.

Hope you’re all having fun, or at least trying to laugh at yourself rather than cry.

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Advocates Advocating Christine Thelker © 2020 Dementia For This I Am Grateful Living well with Dementia Silver Linings

Please Please Just Stop

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The last few weeks have seen me in many conversations with others living with varying types of dementia and Alzheimer’s. There was one thing in all those conversations that was so common, was so frustrating for those living with Dementia that I felt it time to talk about it.

We need the medical professionals, as well as the general public to stop equating Dementia to just memory loss, when in fact memory loss is just one small component of it. We need them to focus time, efforts, on all the other pieces that are so vast and complex. Things like the sleep issues, balance and coordination, vision issues, then the more complex things like oxygen levels, heart and lungs issues, blood flow, troubles with all major organs, infections, Dysphagia ( (swallowing),Aphasia, (speaking), Cognition which is also much more than memory. And here is the biggest, yes the biggest Inflammation, Inflammation, Inflammation…. it directly effects and complicates all other aspects. And finally memory. This does not mean to dismiss the importance of the loss of memory, but it is time to put more focus on the very complex health issues that people living with dementia deal with.
When they ( we) say they fight hard every day to manage the day, they truly do because of the multiple pieces that they have to manage. It’s exhausting to manage the day, put most do it with a joy and happiness that flies in the face of what most think one would or should be feeling when living and trying to manage such a complex illness.

What most want is for a shift to finding medications to manage symptoms for many of these varying pieces of medical conditions, so they ( we) can then have a better quality of life. Most of us living with Dementia realize that a “cure”, is not probable, we can accept that. We do not live looking through Rose coloured glasses, what we do want is more efforts being put into finding things to help manage some of the complex issues such as the inflammation, which directly impacts our cognitive abilities, and effects all other body systems.
Technology can and a great deal of work is being done to create tools to help us with tools to help us in our day to day with reminders for medications, appointments etc. Technology can help keep us safe with fall detection, GPS, Technology is and has come along way. We need the medical piece to stop focusing on memory loss and start focusing on helping us manage all the things that are feeding into making our memory loss worse.
We need the general public to understand and stop with the “you don’t look like you have Dementia” crap, and start understanding, we can still speak think and do, much more that you realize, you cripple us with your outdated understanding of dementia. People are being diagnosed younger and younger and we need to start educating and looking at it with a fresh outlook. We help people with other illnesses manage their illness so they can continue to live a full and complete quality of life, it’s time the same is done for those living with Dementia.

We have been playing nice in the sandbox for over thirty years trying to get change to happen, maybe it’s time we stop playing so nice and start demanding that change actually happen. Too much is influenced by big pharmaceutical and political arenas, time for the dementia world to unite stand up loudly for the changes that are actually needed.

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Advocates Advocating Christine Thelker © 2020 Dementia Event For This I Am Grateful Living well with Dementia Silver Linings

Good Friday

It’s Good Friday and I think it’s a good day to be reflective to remember the past and to think about the future.

My Mom ( Margaret Weeden)

For me I think about my mom and as you can see in the pictures below Easter was a very special time. Mom raised us kids all on her own, we had a lot of time with my grandmother and my uncle who looked after my grandma his whole life and we were all very close. Easter was the time of going to church although we went to church every Sunday, Easter was special, it was about family and it was about being thankful and being grateful. Growing up we didn’t have a lot but what we did have a lot of love, we always had clean clothes and my mother always made sure we had food .She was a terrific gardener, her garden the size of most peoples lots that their houses sit on now, as well as fruit tree and various berry bushes. Everything was canned and frozen so that we never went without, we raised chickens and so we always had eggs we always had chicken to eat, she was she was an incredible woman who along with my grandmother taught us so much and ensured we laughed a lot. My uncle took on the role of doing all the fatherly type things with us we learned a lot from him and laughed a lot with him as well, all three are gone now, and they are always missed but every time Easter rolls around I think about all the Easter‘s where they went to all the trouble of putting together special things for us, hiding them out amongst the flowerbeds in the trees and bushes and we would have to go hunting for them. We were only to only take the one that was meant for us and leave the others behind without saying anything, in some peoples eyes there may not have been much there, for us it was everything and the most exciting day. ( perhaps why i still love treasure hunts) In those moments we had so much to be grateful for. As we got older my mother trying to ensure that upcoming generations got to enjoy some of those old traditions and learn some of that simple basic fun and joy and happiness dressed up every year in her bunny suit and all the kids in the community came and she bounced through the woods. The kids would get so excited to get a peak of the Easter Bunny and chase after her and she would be dropping little Easter treats all along the way and they had so much fun. It made for such an incredible time for families and community and I always remember my mom and think about how she along with my grandmother and my uncle taught us about the importance of doing what you can to make things better for others and share joy and happiness and that you don’t have a lot have to do it. Sometimes the simplest things are the biggest and best things, so during this time of lockdown and Covid and people feeling like their lives are so disrupted that there is nothing to enjoy. I say lets think outside the box get creative create new memories in new found ways, or go back to some old traditions think about your childhood think about what you did as a child think about all those things and enjoy and have a quiet reflective peaceful Easter weekend.

Mom Traveling with her Easter Basket full of goodies

I am grateful for the love of a woman who truly understood that finding in joy in life is always within reach. I am grateful that because of her, no matter what life has thrown at me I have been able to overcome, to continue to see the good in others. That I am able to face my challenges and have the ability to look for the silver linings. For it was my mother who taught me that there is always a Silver lining if you’re brave enough to look for it.

Wishing you all a Very Happy Easter.

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Advocates Advocating Christine Thelker © 2020 Dementia For This I Am Grateful Living well with Dementia Silver Linings

April 1st.2021

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Here we are with another month behind us, and although we are in a continued state of lock down due to the Covid 19 pandemic, time is moving quickly. Today, I am writing as I sit waiting until its time for me to leave for the hospital for my day surgery, its exploratory. I almost cancelled after our local hospital had a covid outbreak announced, but after conferring with Doctor, Have decided to go ahead, this exploratory surgery was elevated from urgent to “Rapid Response Needed”, which I wasn’t aware of, this all comes out of my last hospital stay last month, so given all that information, I decided that my I was going to be at risks one way or the other and decided that they could do their best to protect me from covid, but they could to little if they were unable to do this exploratory surgery.

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Living alone means you have to be very proactive, so that when I come home I have everything to take care of myself, so meals prepped, water, ginger ale etc at my bedside, also a bag with my dogs things should she need to be picked up, and a bag packed that could be dropped off at the hospital should they decided to keep me, which is not to far a stretch for me. It means having things in place for people to phone every couple hours to check on you. They prefer you have someone with you for 24 to 48 hours, but for some of us those are luxuries that aren’t ours. It could and likely does cause some a lot of stress and anxiety but I am so used to having to put things into place that it actually causes me more stress to think of someone having to be here to “take care of me”. I don’t like to cause anyone inconvenience and even if they don’t mind it truly is a pain for someone. So I try to set myself up for success. It also makes me aware that the day is coming I will require more and more help.

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It also just as the month as changed to another, that things in my life are going to be changing and I am not sure how, but I feel that change is upon me. I know I can’t try to figure out the how’s or why’s, I just have to let things unfold as they are meant to. Will it mean changes on the personal level, changes in my advocacy work, changes in my health status, not sure, but letting it unfold without trying to interfere with the process I am sure will bring about the best outcomes. It seems when trying to control the how’s or what’s it usually brings about negative results. Letting the universe guide me in all ways is much more appealing. I truly do try to live my life know but the reason, season, lifetime theory, so maybe we are moving into a new season that requires changes to take place. Seasons of our lives, ebbing and flowing, changing and adapting. Dementia has helped me immensely with being able to do this, instead of trying to control it all. I have learnt through my journey with Dementia, I have very little if any control. So here’s to a new month, the month of my birth, a month to celebrate all that has been and all the will be. Enjoy your April 1st. and watch for those April Fools jokes.

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Advocates Advocating Christine Thelker © 2020 Dementia For This I Am Grateful Living well with Dementia Silver Linings

Another Wave

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Well hello whoever you are, where ever you are, I am here in British Columbia Canada. Yesterday, we were sent careening back into lock downs, restaurants only allowed take out service, all indoor activities stopped again, our biggest ski resort ordered closed. It’s not full lock down, but close, travel within BC restricted to essential travel for work or medical care only. People are ordered to work from home in every situation it’s possible.
You can still socialize out doors in a small group 10 or less as long as it’s always the same 10 and you are all social distanced ( that’s 6 feet here.
I am not upset by this lock down I could see it coming, I only wish instead of trying to appease by creating what they see has some sort of balance for people, they would shut everyone and everything down for a month, go on a ramped up vaccination campaign, and be done. It feels like we are playing with fire, testing and teasing the virus to see how far we can let things go until it takes such a hold that the results devastate us. I just continue to hibernate in order to try my very best to look after myself.
They have know created a list for compromised people, but the list is not for all who have compromising illnesses, and they decide who makes the list in order to get vaccinated know, versus being in the regular rollout order.
Dementia of course did not make their list, even though they know that people with dementia are likely to have more devastating outcomes than others. So I wonder is this because all the other illnesses have some sort of treatment options, or cure ability, so they get preference?
So I have formulated in my mind that this will be ongoing and that I should prepare to continue to live this way until at least the fall. Living alone means an even longer time of not seeing my loved ones, as they all live in other areas, so it will be continued zooms, video calls etc for the foreseeable future. I wonder, will I get the opportunity to get to another conference and see all those that I’ve met along the way with my advocating, and involvement with different organizations and research groups? Will my health hold, will I be able to keep the decline of my dementia at a dull roar until then? Or will the decline continue on the level it has over the last six months? Time will tell, in the meantime I will. continue to work with Dementia Alliance International, Dementia Advocacy Canada, as well as things like our Vernon Seniors Action Network, Agewell, TREC, Canage, Public Health Agency of Canada, and a few others. All of these things will continue to provide purpose to my life, help fill the gaps in the isolation by keeping me engaged, and socially active even if only via zoom. I will also continue to walk, and ride my bike, getting outdoors as much as possible, nature is so important the sights the sounds the smells, it feeds my soul, keeps me calm and peaceful. I bought a little gas BBQ for going on picnics and drives out into the woods with my little dog, this spring/ summer. I am if nothing else determined to be one of the survivors of this pandemic, if not it won’t be for lack of trying.
They say most of us living with Dementia die from something other than our dementia, I’m just determined that whatever it’s going to be for me it won’t be this Covid 19. When I think about these things I think about Tim McGraws sing “ Live Like You Were Dying”, that I think is exactly what I should and do try to do.