The Great War

Many of us had people caught up in the First World War

This was well known as the War to end all wars

My Grandfather was in the Durham Light Infantry, and  had left home to fight for his country

A few years ago my wife and I went on a coach tour, and we were able to visit Ypres and Passchendale where my Grandfather fought alongside his friends etc.

This in many ways explained some of what had happened, but it was so very hard to understand the horrors of this war.

I read my Grandfathers diaries before they were lost in a flood, and they brought tears to my eyes.

He had left school and got an offer of work in the local coal mine where his family lived, but decided to sign up to join the army, to fight for his country, because like others, he felt it to be his duty

A lot of his friends also signed up, because they had been told that they  would see the world, and they were also told that the war would be over before Christmas ?

When I think of this, I wonder just how many young men would do this these days.

He had been injured by shrapnel and was brought home to recuperate before going back again.

When he went back, he heard that many friends had died in the gas attacks, and this left him distressed because he felt he should been there.

On his return he got the offer of work in  the local mine again, but this never lasted along because of his injuries

He had changed from the happy young man, to someone who would spend hours just walking in the countryside, or sitting deep in thought.

I wonder just how many coped with the horrors they had seen in thoughs  few short years.

I guess as a child I knew someone who had hidden nightmares of this horrible war, but he would never ever talk about it.

He was a man who always seemed deep in thought, but he would never talk about this, to either myself or my mother.

He would often take me to local cricket matches in our town, or we would spend hours walking across the countryside.

Looking back , I  wonder if these long walks, were places where he could  listen to wild life and think of the horrors that he had escaped from.

Perhaps it was a way of proving,  that he could walk without being shot at.

I suppose the long  walks and listening to wildlife was a way of reassuring himself that the war was truly over even though his nightmares were still with him

He would often explain what bird made certain noises etc.

But this hid the real man who was still struggling to cope with life, and I guess that wildlife was a life line, and kept him going.

From his diaries I often wondered if he had felt guilty about coming home injured but alive, when he had lost so many friends from his village.

To me he was a giant of  man, and so gentle, but I can never imagine what was going on in his mind.

I miss him a lot.

My wife's Grandfather was also in this war, but we never heard anything about him after signing up, and nothing was ever said

God bless all of those who live with the memories of this horror, and those who lost loved ones.

TBI and dementia

Last week I noticed a news topic about Traumatic Brain Injury and Dementia, and posted it on my blog.

This is a topic which has concerned many people over the years, but no one seems to know whether there are any links or not, so I guess the jury is still out on this one

Taken from an old blog

In the late 1970s, I fell around 15 feet and hit my head on the ground, and vaguely remember lying on the ground  thinking that my head had exploded before I passed out.

I don't have a clue as to how long I was out, but somehow managed to get up off the floor and staggered back to the office to see my boss,   and then went home, where my wife took me to the doctors

Later that day, I had the mother of all headaches, and was taken to hospital,  but after a few x-rays, I was sent home.

My wife said that the doctors did not seem too concerned, because she had rushed me in by car rather than calling an ambulance

The hospital that night was also very full, of people waiting to be seen, and these two doctors were rushed off their feet.

However sometime later, I was asked by a different doctor, why I had not been sent for a scan to look for brain injury, but it appears that this never happened

The following day I looked like a panda according to my wife, as I had two enormous black eyes, and a headache which felt as if my head was splitting open.

After contacting the hospital, I was told to take paracetamol.

A few years later I drove through a set of traffic lights, and had no  knowledge of what I had done, which was very distressing because my young  daughter was in the car at the time.

I had driven for two miles, but had no memory of having done this at all, however after speaking to our family doctor, I was then referred to our local neurological hospital and had a lot of tests, after which I was diagnosed as having absence seizures, which caused havoc at work, because of my electrical work etc

I found myself restricted in everything I was allowed to do.

When the Lewy Body Dementia was diagnosed around 10 years later, we were told that there was no sign of me ever having these seizures which came as a shock.

This left me a little concerned, as I could not understand how you could be diagnosed as having something, and then the same hospital department overturned the original diagnosis.

We were told by one doctor, that it could have been the Lewy Body Dementia in its early stages, something that another consultant later over ruled.

Last week

Last week we had some friends staying with us, and this topic raised its head.

I was amazed to hear that this old friend had,  had the same experience years ago, and has had seizures etc which are now controlled, but also has dementia.

Her husband and my wife were talking about the day after each accident, when we had both woken up with huge black eyes?

Although we had not met at the time of our accidents and they were not linked, it was strange to hear this, after all of these years.

I was on medication for two years to control these seizures, and had been told to stop driving etc, and take things very easy, because a bang on the front of the skull could be dangerous.

Whether there is a link between TBI and dementia, we may never know, but only time will tell, but I have heard of many people who had head injuries who went on to get dementia.

These days we are hearing quite a lot about sports personalities like rugby and football players going on to get dementia after head injuries, so I am starting like others to ask if there is a link

     

Coincidence or what?