On 17 October 2021 I wrote:
With my big brother and big sister! Such joy to spend time with them this weekend.
I do love this picture, and will forever treasure it.
So much has happened since that picture was taken. That window in the background is now our bedroom window; we’ve been living here for about 3 months, and are in the process of purchasing the house, so that Mum can continue to pay her care costs.
And just over a month ago I started having funky vision. I say funky, making it sound quite fun. And it has not been fun. Though, in all honesty, initially I was not worried about it at all, believing it wasn’t serious and it would just go in the same way it had just arrived.
But troubling things don’t seem to just go in the same way that they just arrive.
After a trip to the optician followed by an emergency appointment with the eye consultant at the hospital, I was referred for an urgent brain CT scan (over Christmas and New Year). And then a follow up appointment with the eye consultant, followed by an urgent brain MRI scan and then an attempted urgent lumbar puncture (after nearly 8 hours in the day clinic and two consultants literally stabbing me in the back, they admitted that they didn’t have the skills and referred me to the anaesthetist team to carry out the procedure).
The MRI scan had revealed that I didn’t have ‘anything bonkers’ going on in my brain (according to a consultant as he was attempting to give me a lumbar puncture); the lumbar puncture revealed that the fluid around my brain is at considerably higher pressure than is normal, and this is the cause of the funky symptoms (vision loss, headaches, brain-like-soup, memory loss and who knows what else that I can’t currently remember clearly).
Anyway, I now have a diagnosis, and another appointment with the consultant at the eye clinic next week to discuss how we manage it going forward. My life will be different, but it always was going to be different… all our lives keep changing. How we respond to that change is what matters.
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Thank you for reading this.
Mostly I blog about my relationship with Mum and her dementia, so if that might be your thing, then you could start here at Taking smock of the Situation. Or just dip in. After all, if I’ve learned anything this last few years it’s that chronology and time are less important than we might believe.
Finally, if it’s not too much to ask (I know, it is, apologies) I would really appreciate it if you could make a donation towards Alzheimer Scotland. They’re doing stuff that makes living with dementia more bearable for so many people. Thank you, thank you, a thousand thank yous.
Shewolfinthevalley 