Food first.
Nothing new to report, I'm afraid.
I still haven't mustered the courage or enthusiasm to try anything other than ice cream yet, although Julia has thoughtfully bought a few possibilities. I know I must start, if only to take the first steps towards getting rid of this horrible tube up my nose, so maybe I will manage something this weekend. Pathetic lack of willpower, I know.
As for my brain, the combined effect of drugs and encephalitis have brought about some interesting(?) changes. My intellectual faculties, such as they ever were, seem relatively unimpaired. I think reasonably logically most of the time and can still do the Times crossword, but my Memory is all over the place. My long-term memory appears fairly intact, but I struggle to remember what I did yesterday or even a few hours ago, although if I am given a prompt, the appropriate image will suddenly spring into my mind.I know nothing about the workings of the human memory, but it seems to me from recent experience that we retain a vast quantity of mental images and that the trick is managing the recall process. It's as if I have in my head a huge library of memories, but have lost many of the pages of the catalogue! So I can't find them when I want them and indeed have no idea that they're there until someone or something else presses the right button. This doesn't however explain why my long-term memory is more reliable and more easily accessed than the short-term, which remains a mystery. I can only assume that l-t and s-t memories are on different shelves in the library and that my mental librarian takes a while to catalogue the s-t ones and move them to the l-t shelves. Or it may simply be in many cases that I struggle to recall anything that's happened since the Transplant in Feb 2011 because I haven't been with it for much of that time.
And so to my Emotions.
Presumably as a result of going through what I have over the last 18 months, they are pretty raw at the moment, meaning that I find I have much more empathy for my fellow Human Beans than I used to, especially if they are suffering, and that I blub at the slightest provocation! The empathy is a Good Thing, I think. The blubbing is just embarrassing....
One side-effect of this emotional development is that I find I have a strong taste for soppy music and have been downloading a collection of my favourite ballads and Luuuurve songs.
To date this comprises the following (in no particular order):
Memory - Elaine Page
Killing Me Softly - Roberta Flack
Sorrow -David Bowie
San Francisco - Scott McKenzie
I want to know what love is - Foreigner
Always on my mind - Elvis Presley
Can you feel the love tonight - Elton John
The first time ever I saw your face - Roberta Flack
I can't help falling in love with you - Elvis Presley
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
My Lady D'Arbanville - Cat Stevens
Unchained Melody - The Righteous Brothers
Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton
I don't wanna talk about it - Rod Stewart
Without You - Harry Nilsson
Yesterday - The Beatles
Sailing - Rod Stewart
Morning has broken - Cat Stevens
You don't bring me flowers - Neil Diamond & Barbra Streisand
Mostly 70s I know, but that is My Era for pop music after all.
If any of you can suggest any Glaring Omissions in this collection, please let me know.
Blog it to me, baby!
Oh Patrick! It seems you may have accessed the feminine side of your brain (don't be alarmed - it's not all bad!) I blub all the time - at the opening ceremony of the Olympics, when someone wins a race, watching Shackelton rescue his men from Elephant Island, reading 'The Mousehole Cat' to Henry when he was smaller (why has Aunty Jo stopped reading the words?)... so there you have it. Music... how about some Nina Simone... 'Ne me quitte pas', 'No Woman No Cry' - Bob Marley ' 'Universal Soldier' - Donovan 'What a Wonderful World' - Louis Armstrong ... just a few. I could make a CD up of a few if you like?
ReplyDeleteI think that long term memory and short term memory are indeed in different places - long term memories are often brought to the fore when we recognise a certain smell - like mown grass - as smell and long term memory are close together in the brain. Your synapses (pathways) may have been affected and need reinvigorating... but your mental faculties are clearly working perfectly! I am sure you've shut down over the last 18 months as a coping strategy, but now you're feeling better, you're noticing these things and getting VEWWY VEWWY cross sometimes! Screw your courage to the sticking place and try a bit of something savoury - even a couple of teaspoons... but, seriously, make sure it doesn't have a lot of seasoning... this would make the flavour way too strong, and might even be uncomfortable in your mouth. A bit of home made carrot soup perhaps. A little onion and carrot cooked together and then whizzed up till smooth - I love it! Well, it's a really gorgeous day, and I have outdoor things to do - mowing, bonfire, wood chopping, feeding a jar of snails to next doors chickens! 'What a wonderful World' is playing as I type! Love to you two, Jo xxx
A good choice of Sloppies! While you are at it, you might throw in Dusty Springfiled 'I close my eyes and count to ten' and Carole King 'Will you still love me tomorrow'? And - since you're already downloading Cat/Yusuf - his version of 'The First Cut is the Deepest' and 'Father & Son'. The latter not a luurrrve song but good 'n' emotional: 'From the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen ... If they were right, I'd agree; but it's them they know, not me...etc'. Another dimension now, listening as a parent of Young People and no longer a YP meself! Writing of which... been today on one of Ellis's tours for the first time: S.Calysto Catacombs, S.Clemente church and Capuccini Crypt with its art work of bones. We were Proud Parents: v.g.
ReplyDeleteTake the plunge and try that carrot (or pumpkin) soup and Get Stronger Quick(er), so you can try one too.
YELS & family xxx