I am not selective
When choosing my victims:
Doctors and nurses,
Politicians and plumbers,
The good and the bad,
The majestic or mediocre
Of intellect;
I welcome all to my world.
I slip quietly into your mind
(While you are not looking)
And slowly wreak havoc there.
My hallmarks of amyloid plaques and
Neurofibrillary tangles;
Multiple vascular lesions
Or abnormal proteinaceous
Cytoplasmic inclusions
Is all evidence of me!
Initially, you will not know I am there!
Then an odd thing forgotten
That should be remembered
Is dismissed as part of natural aging;
It happens again and again
And doubts are sown in your mind
That perhaps all is not well;
Or maybe you forget that you have
Forgotten
And unknowingly
Begin to walk down the path of
My journey
That I have gifted to you.
The form of dementia
I have gifted to you
Decides what happens
Next!
Failure of higher cognitive
Functioning:
Memory decline and
Difficulties in judgement;
Problems in spatial awareness:
Funny little thing that you are -
You even get lost in conversation;
You are losing everything that
Defines you as you
And you give all of your self to me!
Depressed or agitated,
Apathetic or aggressive,
Or just plain psychotic;
We shall see - for it is my decision!
Disinhibited (you take all your clothes off!)
As you wander aimlessly
In that private, terrifying world
You inhabit
That really belongs to me!
As you progress on your journey
Towards total loss of identity,
My ownership of you
Now extends to your family as
They are caught in the terror
Of my destruction of you.
You are strangers to each other
And they mourn their loss
While you still live and breathe.
You become a burden on society
And you are hidden away.
Friends have long ceased to visit
And your family feel guilty as
They can no longer cope with
This unbidden stranger.
You are not you!
I love the smug indifference of some
Who think they are immune to my grip.
To all -
Including some in the medical
And nursing professions,
Who presume that they are
Somehow excluded from my touch
And view my victims
With disdain -
I ask you to consider
That in time
I may select
YOU!
Anna
4 comments:
That sent shivers down my spine! Well written.
Thanks Addy.
I have lived and breathed dementia for over fifteen years - both in my workplace and home life.
Although your experience is different from mine, you know yourself, unless you have experienced 'living the life' in a family setting - you have no idea! Other folk think they understand - even professionals - but they don't! I just want people to know!
Although this response appears a little gloomy - it is not intended to be - I just can't think how to write it in a bright and breezy way.
Thinking of you. Anna:o]
Very well written. Why is the reseach linking it to fungi(mould) in contaminated buildings
being ignored?
Thanks for your comment Anonymous.
The answer to your your question is that not many people are aware of it - I certainly wasn't.
I ahall now research the research.
Thanks. Anna :o]
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