Goodness
it’s February 2nd already. January has come and gone, and what a
month that was. This past week has been sprinkled through with memories of the
past, some of which were good, others were rather more challenging. It has been
5 years since Brexit. It’s hard to identify what has been good about Brexit, well
certainly not in this house anyway. Sadly, Marianne Faithfull died aged 78 last
week. She was born in the same place as me, Hampstead, in London, albeit 8
years earlier. She was the 1960’s ‘it girl’ (younger readers please ask your
parents what this means) a singer and an actress. For a while she was the muse
and partner of Mick Jagger.
Although
she died in 2016, there was another Marianne (Ihlen) who was the muse and
partner of Leonard Cohen. He wrote a song in 1967 which although written for
‘his’ Marianne, I think captures the spirit and zeitgeist of the time. Listen
to it here. All 4 of these folk featured one way or another in my teenage
years.
I
have been to Poland a few times. Mainly to Warsaw, which I discovered last week
is now one of the top 20 vegan cities of Europe. I have never been to Krakow,
the nearest city to Auschwitz. It just 30 miles away and today is a popular tourist
destination. For many reasons, none of which I wish to go into here, I have never
wanted to visit Krakow and by its association, Auschwitz. Jane went last year
and was able to visit Auschwitz and the other concentration camps nearby. Her
visit had a profound impact on Janes sense of self. Watching the memorial
services this year convinced me that I should make that trip. Jane has promised
to come too.
And
travel memories featured this past week as well. I spent a lovely couple of
hours with Jane going through the photos of our travels together. There were over
holiday 6000 photos on my phone (the curse of camera phones I guess). What made
the time together special was Jane being able to recognise the various places
and tell me stories of what we did and saw on our travels. Given her short term
memory is still not where it should be and confusion still reigns supreme, this
was a positive and very welcome glimpse of my Jane.
Her
confusion caused consternation last week. In the middle of the night, Jane
decided she was being poisoned and being held prisoner by a group of people she
didn’t know. So, like anyone finding themselves in such circumstances,
she rang Lancashire Police. They were confused. Jane was confused. The ward
staff were confused when, after tracing Janes call, the police contacted the
hospital. Her phone was confiscated, explanations provided, and we all got back
to sleep.
The
following day Jane had no memory of the incident, and to be honest we had a bit
of a laugh about it all. However, consequently, and with her permission, Jane’s
phone is now locked up overnight. Unfortunately, Janes current treatment regime
is still not helping her. This being the case, she is scheduled to have a permanent
shunt fitted this coming Tuesday, and that should be a big step forward for
Jane and her recovery journey. Keep her in your thoughts and prayers please.
It
has been a journey of discovery that’s for sure. Descartes’ philosophy that the
mind and body are conceptually distinct has underpinned much of western culture
and medicine for centuries. Illnesses are thought of as being either ‘physical’
or ‘mental’. I have long advocated that there can’t be a separate category of
illness that this idea suggests. I’m with the World Health Organisation in that
there is no health without mental health. This blog is not the place to explore
the brain and what we might think of as our mind. However, as we have found out,
a bleed on the brain, can have a huge impact on the way our mind works. Thankfully,
in Janes case, her memories are still there, and we will make new ones soon for
sure.
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