Anyone watching the Terry Pratchett thing?

[PortAndLemon]

It's really very interesting so far.

yes, he's doing a good job of explaining how his brain is working now.

I'm recording this on sky + and will watch it with DH tomorrow.

lmao at 'knawing the arse of a dead mole' if he thought it might help.

made a point of watching it quite interesting and quite sad

Agree - interesting & great to see it tackled so honestly.

Bugger - missed this. No doubt it will be repeated though. What is the full title of the programme please so that I can search for it?

there you go here

Terry Pratchett - Living With Alzheimers.

I watched it. twas interesting and moving

it's a series documenting his first year after being diagnosed with alzheimers.

i work with people with dementia.

i cry and laugh every day. i love it.

My dad's got early stage dementia. Very sad and upsetting.

Interesting programme - am a bit funny about needles though, so the brain injection made me go like this

Fascinating programme; quite upsetting in places though.

I thought it very sad - especially how he kept being cheerful

It was very moving. Especially the reading of his new book in public, where he stumbled.

Alzheimer's is, of course, a tragedy for anybody. But it seems particularly poignant for it to strike someone who has such a rich understanding of human nature and such a gift for communicating.

Yes the part where he lost it with the reading was agonising to watch. I agree with you Edam - it seems utterly cruel that his brain will lose the ability to 'see' reading and writing but he will be able to know that and articulate it perfectly well. I doubt there could be a more perfect torture for a writer.

Horrible disease but he is clearly going to fight it tooth and nail and good for him.

I watched this. My Mum died three years ago - with cancer and Alzheimer's. It is devastating and I have avoided watching programmes about it because they are usually focused on the end of life and terribly depressing. I actually enjoyed this because Terry Pratchett's attitude was generally cheerful (at least on camera) and the tone was more upbeat than anything else I've seen.

I believe it is a hugely valuable thing for him to have done because research into dementia is desperately underfunded when you consider how many of us will be affected as the population lives longer. I think the perception of this hideous disease is that it is something people when they are old and close to death anyway so not such a big awareness as with cancer etc. Terry P has shown that people still in the prime of their lives and careers are also susceptible - and what a lot he and others like him still have to offer.

I think if people were more aware that is will not always be a lost cause and that more funding might lead to a real breakthrough they might be more willing to support research and not think they are wasting money and time. I pray my children will not have to deal with me as a dementia patient - and that they will live out their own lives knowing there is an effective treatment which removed the fear.

It is a living death. I have nursed my Dad and others I love while they died of cancer and they were still themselves even in the very last days. My Mum had gone long before her heart stopped. And the fear and frustration she suffered was terrifying and abidingly sad.

My dad has Alzheimer's and it is getting to the stage where he sometimes doesn't remember me. It is the cruellest disease.

Thanks for the links. Will hunt for repeats.

Ooo - I see I can watch it online! The wonders of modern tinterweb eh.

Very good programme, I've read nearly all of his books but I know practically nothing about him, and I found him very interesting.