Oh dear, oh dear! I’ve been looking back at the start of this
blog. What a boring old fart I’ve become since then. My posts have increased in
length and in grumpiness. I’m surprised anyone reads them any more. I know some
people do. Probably my family….
Anyway, here I am today, sitting in my favourite Cornerstone café
admiring the new kitchen in the children's corner, that Sarah the manager raised money for, by going
without sugar throughout February. The sun is shining and all’s well with the
world.
On Saturday we had the local branch MNDA AGM. As usual it was
a friendly time. We did the business bit, and after lunch had a talk about the
NIHCE Guidelines on MND. Wow, it’s a weighty tome! And I suppose GPs and Health
Commissioning groups are meant to have a grip on scores of similar documents….
We also heard about the Happy Valley Festival, a seriously cool one-day music
festival in aid of MND on 17th June (http://www.happyvalleyfestival.co.uk/) - tickets on sale tomorrow.
I asked one of our local MND experts what I could expect
dying to be like. The answer was compassionate and honest: “The hardest part of
MND is the living with it, not the dying. As the muscles weaken, the oxygen
level drops, carbon dioxide rises. Usually people die in their sleep.”
Or words to that effect. Reassuring. Confirmed my view that dying with MND is no more distressing for
all involved than any other death.
