Keith Oliver Part Six – ‘Dear Alzheimer’s’
Hello dear listener. It’s Keith here recording Dear Alzheimer’s day 5. Today I am going to read 2 short extracts from chapter 1 of the diary for 2010, and chapter 2 from 2011.
14th July – Margate
I saw the neurologist again today for the second consultation with him having not done so since the original bomb shell was dropped in May, although Kim has been very understanding and supportive on the phone if I’ve needed any advice. I have re-read and tried to make sense of his report a number of times and the letters he has written and copied me into to my GP. Phrases like “high functioning individual with memory problems”, “I am concerned that this gentleman has early Alzheimer’s Disease”, “moderate to marked parietal atrophy on the MRI scan” and “delayed recall” jumped off the page. Today, he discharged me from the hospital, and is going to start the ball rolling in regards to appointments at the memory clinic. His use of the word “discharged” worried me greatly as it will mean another step into the unknown and now without the considerate support of his secretary. He gave me some more tests, and seems more convinced than ever that it is Alzheimer’s. I’m still not sure, I really don’t know what it is I’m contending with but I do know that I need to go through this process in order to get answers to these questions.
28th March – Whitstable
Rosemary and I attended a post-diagnosis group meeting in a church hall in Whitstable, entitled ‘Living with Dementia’. There were about eight couples there, each of whom had one person with a recent diagnosis of young onset dementia. Amongst the group was a guy called Melvyn and his wife, Jan. They’re certainly two people I do remember because Melvyn was quite outspoken. I can’t remember the names of many of the others, but they’re all from the local area, and aged mid to late 50s like myself, or early 60s. We had a presentation by Elizabeth Field, and a psychiatrist, who was introduced as Dr Richard Brown. I said to Rosemary I used to teach a Richard Brown about 22 years ago in Primary School, how old do you think he is? He heard this and said “yes Mr Oliver, you were my teacher!” He then graciously came over and we spoke briefly but then at much greater length at break time about his and my recall of each other from long ago. Amongst his memories was of me reading “The Hobbit” to the class and performing a memorable version of the voice of Gollum – many years before the Hollywood movie!
