I have not written for some time and for that I could give a thousand excuses but until things are more settled with regards to dementia Dad, my writing mojo has wained some what but recent events got me thinking so here is my latest offering. And before you ask; Dad is STILL in hospital becuase no home will take him… but that is truly a story over Gin! 

resilience. 

noun

Oxford Defintion number 1

1. The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.”the often remarkable resilience of so many British institutions”

We all come into this world the same and we leave in the same way. No matter how much money or luxury you may have during your life, your entry and exit is the same; kicking, screaming and fighting. But this blog is dedicated to the human resilience that never ceases to amaze me.

Of late, within my family, immediate and extended, we have had some funny turns. Funny because during the world of Covid it is the only way that I can think to explain it.

My maternal Grandfather, whom I love unconditionally,  has been taken ill (and also has dementia) and has now gone into care. In the space of 4 weeks his downhill spiral is unbelievable and his cancer has now returned with a vengeance. 4 weeks ago he was living, albeit with full time care, in his own home and taking daily walks to the beach. Sadly you cannot treat a dementia patient for things such as cancer so high on morphine he will now see out his days as is. Comfortable at least, but incredibly sad at the same. 

My Stepfathers Mother, also in long term care, continually seems to amaze everyone as she is now 100 years old and still going. Not going strong, but they never ever thought that she would be where she is now. In short she ‘should’ have departed a long time ago, but even with a dementia so far gone, she continues to keep going. Every time she has a minor infection or things are not ‘quote right’ out come the antibiotics and she is back up on top form again. I remember when she moved into a care home all those years ago and once again I reiterate that she should not be here today. She is a minor medically dementia riddled lady!

Then my Step-Uncle. It’s cancer. It’s not good and he has gone home to see the last of his days out in his own environment. Again thanks to the morphine he too is not in any pain but again the situation is once again incredibly sad. 

These very sad, but ever so present situations got me thinking about the human spirit. Not that I would ever want to compare us to say a dog for instance, but, like a dog who should know better, these humans just keep going and fighting. We keep going!

It also made me think about the facade that some people put on. You never truly know what is going on behind closed doors. With all the Covid going on in the world I am happy to say that so far no one I know has been taken by the dreaded virus, but all these other viruses and illnesses are still taking people every day. 

It also got me thinking about how far away we all live form one another. Clearly this cannot be helped, but if there is one thing that I can take away from the lesson that Covid has given me, then that is that we were all free. We did not know how and lucky we were. We could travel and move around freely whenever we wanted and Covid has put the breaks on all of this. My lot are all over the place, literally the world, and when people get ill, or you need to be with them, these restrictions have made things even more unbearable and almost impossible.

So, whilst this blog is a short one I just wanted to reach out and say that no matter how things are going in this crazy Covid world that we are ALL living in, your resilience will always keep you going.

We (you) are all made of strong stuff.