Brain Day 2015

Today we went to Brain Day, an annual event I had been looking forward to. The Celebration Choir to which I belong was singing at a lunchtime session to show others what and why we do it. I arrived at the session to find myself in the middle of the front row as all the other seats were taken. A bit too conspicuous for my liking but I acquiesced and settled down. Our performance went down well and I enjoyed singing things ike You raise me up! Tried to catch Dieter's eye as I sang it with feeling, as he has been such a colossal help to me , and vice versa I like to think.  Another song of the Carpenters, Sing, sing a song I also sang with great gusto.  

The theme of this year's day was dementia it seemed, from cognitive brain impairment (CBI) to full-blown Alzheimer's, understanding it, dealing to it, treating it, coping with it.  

The first session I went to was Music and dance in dementia.  We all know how important such things as exercise are to keep one fit in body, mind and spirit and dance might be the next thing for me to try after listening and trying out some activities with balloons and simple arm and leg movements.  What fun! As Miranda would say.  The Centre for Brain Research is planning on setting up a dance group which I think might be fun for us to go to but Dieter doesn't want to take part in, being "a shy person". Pity, but if possible I will go for the two of us, cognitive changes in Parkinson's being quite common.  I also like trying new things, especially things I haven't tried for many many years.  I did a year's ballet as a very young child! 

Th next session was on managing pain in the older person, especially those with dementia .  There was two pain specialists from Norway , Bettina and Stein Hasebo who gave the presentation on their experience of seeing the effect of and managing chronic pain in the elderly, especially those with dementia.  The topic moved to end of life care for the frail elderly with dignity and informed and presumed consent to stop or maintain treatment and move to palliative care.  All very sobering and hopefully not a situation for either of us in the near future. The research shows that the things that are so important are one on one socialisation with significant others, regular  family visits, including and especially babies and young children, pet therapy with animals like dogs, the larger the better, they say! 

After that was the choir, as mentioned above.  Saw so many friendly people I knew all over the place and by the time we had some lunch was pretty tired so decided to call it a day and go home.  All in all a very stimulating and worthwhile day.

Early Morning Blues

Another dark quiet morning to wake up to.  I am refreshed after a good night's sleep and my early morning mug of tea , sipped from a lovely big Friesian  blue and white cup which D gave me some years ago.  It had a lid which I gave to a friend who  admired it  and was going to  use it to put on top of her bedside glass of water, and a saucer which now has a chip out of it and also a china insert for making tea with tea leaves. I might try it out with some feijoa tea I have.  I somehow think the tea is too fine not to flow into the mug with the water.  Will have to get out my trusty fine- meshed tea strainer as well. The thought of it is making my mouth water.

Fruity teas could well quench the thirst and ease the dry mouth discomfort I and other Parkinson's people sometimes experience.  Our taste buds get jaded too and some poor people lose more of them than others.  Mine are not too badly affected but I avail myself of the experience of stimulating my senses , smell included , by rubbing herbs like rosemary , basil, or lavender between my fingers as I pass them in my garden. 

I use them in cooking too as well as lots of parsley for colour.  I discovered  some self-sown dill in the garden yesterday which goes so well with broad beans in a white sauce.  I have some little bags of beans from last year in the freezer which I will now use.  It reminds me it is time  to sow broad bean seeds too for Spring now that Autumn is here.  

I heard recently at a meeting I went to that there are about 1000 taste buds in the mouth. In different parts of the mouth too. Hot food stimulates them and makes a meal more appetising. Slow eating sometimes means your meal gets cold and you don't feel like finishing it. Why not heat it up in the microwave for a few seconds.and have another go.

Finished my Monet jigsaw yesterday. It was a marathon effort and took about ten days to do off and on during the day. Will be able to use the dining room table again and have our evening meal in there now that it is not so hot with the westerly sun in the late afternoon. Will be using our impressionist table mats and Monet coasters  for a while to relive the experience.  

I remember the time we were in Rouen and saw rooms of Monet paintings in the museum there and visited the cathedral that features so often in his paintings.  Would be lovely to travel again after a three year hiatus.  It is,something we are working on realising.

Hard to Swallow perchance?

I always enjoy the informative sessions presented by a speech language therapist from Green Lane hospital every few weeks.  The last one was on that vital process of swallowing and the part the vocal chords play in shutting off the airway so you can swallow and not splutter.  This is another very good reason to keep talking and avoid having your vocal chords atrophy through lack of use.  There is always hope  - Use it and improve it works better than the threat  - Use it or lose it.  

I will have to keep up the loud talking, and singing  at the Celebration Choir because it is all interconnected with eating and swallowing. Decided to talk at mealtimes with D rather than listening to the radio.  It is easier to sit in companiable silence but better to keep up the conversation and the physiology.    

At that same meeting there was a stimulating presentation on exercise for  Parkinsons people. All about big and large movements not gentle stretching or small dainty steps.  Oh well.  I can practice those at the gym too.  

It was a very hot day and the bus home was late and crawled along Gillies Ave in the after school traffic. Just one of those things.

This photo was taken out the bus window coming over the Harbour Bridge recently. Good old Auckland. Made me feel good to be alive.