Losing my marbles?

Most days we all get the ubiquitous pile of  ‘junk mail’ through our letter box and today was no different for me. But today I had to wonder, are the mailshots trying to tell me something? Does some marketing manager at help the aged know something about me, that I hadn’t actually realised myself?

As I sifted through the pile of junk mail there were two separate flyers relating to homes for the elderly in our area. The first for a ‘purpose designed’ care home specialising in residents suffering from dementia and offering the “highest levels of care” in a “”modern and thriving community” and the second, suggesting I would receive “complete peace of mind” because of “professional and personalised care.”

Should I suddenly feel some immense sense of relief about the horrendous burden lifted from my shoulders; knowing I wont have worry about my future, or have to travel far to find somewhere to live out my twilight years. The time when my waterworks are past their operational peak, where I start to dribble, have difficulty in feeding myself, without getting the food all over my face and, spend all day talking a lot of rubbish? Ok, before some smart arse says it, any more often than I already do!

“As we get older, many of us notice our brain is not as agile and our memory not as sharp as it used to be. It is quite a common observation but it can make us wonder if these memory problems could be an early sign of dementia and/or the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. An immensely worrying time in our life, and one that many of us actually fear, when our families either wont or can’t support and care for us any more.” (Age UK)

I may be 50+ but am I really and finally loosing all cognisance of reality and sliding down that slippery slope towards a relived childhood; the period in life where you can’t remember yesterday, what you actually did or indeed what you had for lunch for that matter, but you often still vividly recal all that was important to you during your childhood?

I would like to think not and hopefully I have some way to go however; once you pass that half century milestone, the possibility becomes a greater reality than ever it was before that point.

Related Articles

• Archbishop of Westminster: Coalition must not to lose ‘moral imperative’ over elder care (telegraph.co.uk)
• Elderly people ‘under-fed’ and ‘ignored’ in care homes (telegraph.co.uk)
• Elderly left isolated as children fail to call home (telegraph.co.uk)
• Elderly care costs soar for millions as councils feel pinch (dailymail.co.uk)
• Can I get junk mail and still be green? (guardian.co.uk)