"Primary Progressive Aphasia"

PPA is a form of dementia. My mother-in-law has just been diagnosed with it. I'm not sure how I feel. We have never really gotten along - for the first 3 or so years of my marriage she didn't even speak to me... And then when she did speak to me I kind of wished she'd go back to not talking to me!

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't suprised. She has been "losing it" for about 2 years or so - very obviously over the past few months. Hubby and I thought she had Alzheimer's - so it is good in a way that it is not Alzheimer's, but it is a form of dementia so that's not good no matter how you look at it. It is just an awful disease, not so much for the patient once they are no longer having lucid moments, but for the family who is left around them and being forgotten by them.

My initial reaction to the confirmed diagnosis was "Damn - there goes my babysitter!" Which I guess is rather horrid of me, but I just can't bring myself to like my mother-in-law. She is one of those people that just isn't likeable... She has this way of making you feel stupid no matter what you do or say.

My sister-in-law is a real mess over the whole thing - regretting all the time she & her family haven't spent with her mum. Hubby has no regrets but is still pretty worked up over it all. Father-in-law has gone into limbo, and to make things worse he is really sick too - he is bleeding internally from his intestines somewhere that they haven't been able to locate and he has lost the blood circulation in one of his legs. He is a heavy smoker and drinker, and isn't willing to stop or cut down, so the medicos aren't that interested in giving him another theatre spot to investigate and operate. Personally, I don't blame them.

So, the family is all a bit of a mess and I am just blah. Whatever. I honestly don't give a shit - as long as hubby is OK, and the girls aren't in danger, I'm not fussed. I don't have time to be bothered by in-laws problems, particularly when I don't even like them. I have to concentrate on my heath & fitness, weightloss, pain management etc. leading up to my hysterectomy - I'll be a couch potato for 6+ weeks after it, so I need to be in the best shape I can be, both physically and mentally, by Sept 12.

Bad news there - if I stop taking the pill 4 weeks before surgery (Aug 15) it will reduce the risks of blood clots or something, so obviously I'll stop the pill. Bad news? I'll probably have one more period before it's all chopped out... and going by the few periods I've had in my life, it ain't gonna be pretty! Rather ugly and extremely painful... Not something I'm looking forward to. Fingers crossed that the slight chance my IUD still has enough progesterone in it to keep me from bleeding will be the case.


to be continued...