My Unseen Disappearing World: Using WordPress

to Capture Memories.

Kate Swaffer 5th November 2011

My life was interesting, busy and very fulfilling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZUyIRq5DAs

‘Live with urgency, before the emergency’ Robyn Moore, Alzheimer’s Australia National Conference, 2011  

I did not think dementia would be at my door at my age, if at all, and certainly not until I was much older…

...it is imperative we all understand

the human cost of dementia.

Baroness Susan Greenfield, June 2011

We are mothers, fathers, lovers, daughters, wives, husbands, employees, bloggers… it is a tragedy so many just see our deficits.

My high functioning mind has slipped away, sometimes showing itself like a ghost, trying to tease me into believing it will be okay, but now outside of my reach. My thoughts fly around inside my head like helium balloons high inside an auditorium, also out of my reach.

I read then I forget… I read then I forget… I read, I take notes, and then I forget… I blog, and it is always there!

Hallucinations sometimes take over my mind, as strangers and wild cats stalk me. The feeling that these things are real is momentary, but startling none the less and they increase the feeling of madness creeping into my soul.

It can look like a swan – calm and serene on the surface, but legs paddling a thousand times faster below the surface to make things ‘look ok’ to others. Christine Bryden, Dancing with dementia, 2005.

It is as if I am drowning…

Dementia represents the end of dreaming... WordPress has brought back the dreaming.

WordPress has also opened up a vibrant channel of dialogue and communication… and a memory bank

Focus on your brain plasticity

My life continues to be interesting, busy

and very fulfilling.

THANK YOU.

Statistics: 1500 new cases per week in Australia, i.e. 214 per day, no cure, treatment available for about 60%, which reduces symptoms for 2 years, and 100% of us die.