The evening before yesterday as it was the start of a new month, I spent a certain amount of team doing some financial updating only to discover that I could not get through to my bank account details via the usual credentials on the website. So I was just reconciling myself to hours on the phone when I thought I would try things again in the morning when everything worked just the way it should. I reckon the creaky old system could not cope with updates just after midnight, end of the month and so on. As I was wide awake trying to access my system and not quite in the mood for sleep, I did stay up late and finished off reading the Fiona Phillips book (‘Remember When’) which is an account of her life with Alzheimers. Now I know that the experience of every sufferer is unique but I was struck by the different ways in which news was communicated. In the case of Fiona Phillips because of her public profile no doubt she had the news conveyed to her by a top neurosurgeon personally and after things like lumbar puncture tests. But in the case of Meg, she was initially given an assessment of ‘Mild Cognitive Impairment’ and only much later was the diagnosis of Alzheimers given in the most round-about way and via an undated letter. The Phillips family seemed, according to the book, obsessing about things whereas Meg and I just got on with it and I think with our Music Lounge and then trips out in the wheelchair made a much better fist of it by just ‘getting on with life’ Looking back, I still feel Meg’s quality of life was pretty high compared with fellow sufferers but we did have some rough times when Meg was falling constantly (up to 3-4 times a day) whereas Martin Frizzel (Fiona Phillips husband) seemed to manage to get out to work and go out for a coffee whereas the occasions on which I could leave Meg were limited to a few minutes each week whilst I dashed out to do the shopping as fast as I could leaving her with carers and Meg experiencing the consequent separation anxiety. Nonetheless, some of my friends would like to read the book now that I have finished it but I may re-read some of the critical final chapters as I think it covers events up to March, 2025 (and Meg died on May 10th, 2025). This I actually did do later in the day but I was matching up what was happening to Fiona Phillips with what was happening to Meg at the same time. In the Fiona Philipps case, she was still managing to communicate and even going off on holiday to Italy whereas this had been way beyond Meg for a long time. This led me to consult this blog for the first time that I felt that I needed to utilise a wheelchair (which I had just purchased) and the actual date turned out to be a Sunday, 13th August which is, of course nearly two years ago now. In many ways, the sufferers and carers of dementia patients just have to ‘get on with it’ and Martin Frizzel, the husband of Fiona Phillips, declaims in the book how little is done for dementia patients compared with, for example, cancer patients. He also points out that even the diagnostic pen-and-paper tests for the diagnosis are still the same as 50 years ago. But dementia is more likely to strike as one gets older with the risk, according to the Alzheimer’s Society being about 1 in 4 for general population rising to about 1 in 6 for the over 80’s. Coupled with the fact that a history of migraines can increase the risk for women about six times plus a history of higher blood pressure in her early 70’s and the fact that women seem more disposed to develop Alzheimer’s than men then the odds were well and truly stacked against Meg probably many years ago.
Yesterday afternoon, I was hoping that my Droitwich friend might call round but she was feeling under the weather so texted me late in the afternoon to say we might meet later in the weekend. I went to church and got into conversation with an elderly Irish parishioner who I know pretty well. His brother had just died (at a ripe old age, I think) and he had just attended his funeral in Manchester. I mentioned to him that Meg and I had got married in the ‘Holy Name’ church in Oxford Road, Manchester and my parishioner friend told me he had often worshipped in that church in the past. When we got married, the church had bee cleaned up and years of accumulated grime had revealed some glorious coloured stonework but it has probably got all grimy again by now. When I came home and saw a magnificent performance of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony in the Proms. We used to play the finale to this in the school orchestra when I attended Thornleigh College, Bolton in the 1950’s but the actual performance at the Proms was played at a much faster pace than we could achieve and I was only aged about 14 at the time. Then I watched a delayed ‘Today at the Test’ where India undoubtedly had the upper hand and will probably go on to win this final Test at the Oval to draw the series, which is probably a fair overall result.
I recently renewed my Senior Person’s Railcard which gives me a third off fares – at £80.00 for three years, I feel this is actually very good value for money because it is possible to reclaim the cost after only about 1-2 journeys. Of course, I am thinking ahead to my trip up to Yorkshire to see my sister for her birthday at the end of the month. When I renewed my card I was informed that it would take about ten days to deliver but I got an email the other day to say that it is actually on its way. In theory, the ticket inspector ought to examine this every time your ticket is checked but I found that in practice if you evidently look over 65 they actually do not bother very often but you do get the occasional ‘jobs-worth’ who does. You can order a version that just lodges on the ‘Wallet’ app of your phone but I actually do prefer a bit of plastic if ever my phone was mislaid and I can always take a photo of it.