Melvyn’s catch up and how they are setting up a Buddy scheme

Melvyn – catch up and Buddy Scheme

Hello it’s Melvyn here. It’s been quite a while since I’ve done the last diary so getting back on stream with dementia and started going back to Forget Me Nots a couple of weeks ago. I said thank you to all the Forget Me Nots who phoned me. I just said to them I didn’t write a letter but I just wanted to say thank you and how thankful I was for their help over the last couple of months. We’re creating a Buddy Scheme in Kent, in Canterbury where I live, and I’ve got back on stream with that. I missed one meeting, since my wife died, I was pretty keen to get back into that as it sounds like a very good scheme. It’s about giving information to people newly diagnosed with dementia. The Buddy Scheme is for people if they want someone with dementia to to speak, to get them on the right road to give them information which is useful to them. Because when you’re first diagnosed it’s a horrendous time, it’s horrendous all the time, but we are going to strive to help these people. We are creating a framework for us to work to. Like with everything we have to have rules and regulations. And also I was looking at some of the leaflets that I pick up and I’d like them to define “living well with dementia”. Because since I’ve been diagnosed I’ve never lived well with dementia, I fight it, and I fight the outcome, but I don’t ever live well with dementia and I don’t think anyone does. I’d like to know who actually put this together, it’s got to be an academic, otherwise it wouldn’t be there. I’d like to shoot that down, because you don’t live well with dementia. I’ve had this argument before and I’d like to define that word as well “living well with dementia” I’d like some correspondence from this please and we’ll go from there. I’ve still got my dogs, my darling Tally and Bonny and I’ve got back to doing my exercise, however it’s so hard, it doesn’t get easier, it just gets better. It doesn’t get better, but it does get easier. I don’t know which way round that goes. Someone asked me the other day when I was up the gym, ” Does it get easier, or does it get better?”. I had to laugh. No never mind, I’m going to finish now and I’d like to be doing something, a project, I don’t know, if DEEP have got one out there for me, I’d really like to do it, and we’ll go from there.