After some months of lots of different health, financial & dementia issues I realised mum and I were quite depressed & not really coping very well. Thanks to some amazing courses I sat by a company called Promas- www.promas.co.uk (who I’m now a non-exec director for-that’s how amazing I think they are), an incredible book my friend’s mum bought me called “Knickers In the Fridge” by Jane Grierson & the fact that dementia has not stolen my mother’s sense of humour yet, we began to learn to laugh at the verbal mistakes she makes. This was truly life changing! Having the permission to take the piss & have a good giggle at things (and even Facebook them) that used to make us sad & frustrated was so enlightening. These will mostly be shared under the category “Deeisms”.
Mum thanks me daily for making her laugh instead of letting us continue to be sad at what she’s lost. However, this wouldn’t be possible without her incredible sense of humour & ability to laugh at herself.
She also thanks me daily for my patience, something that makes me so happy as I know that often my patience is non existent but as long as she’s not aware of that then……cool!
One of Dee’s catchphrases is “Laughter is the best medicine!”
So true & so vital I feel, when dealing with the awful disease of dementia.
Dee will always be Dee (even if just by name) but my Mum is no longer my Mum. No matter how hard I try to bring back some piece of her being my Mother, my teacher, my advisor, my confident, my agony Aunt, my supporter, my listener or my companion, it is no longer possible.