July 19, 2025
Dear Dementia,
Mold taught me a lot about you. Well, what life is like with you. Now, granted only a fraction of you, but still. For over 10 years, mold has lifted the veil of dementia in a new way. I don’t have dementia, I am not even dealing with “normal” aging but as I struggle to understand why I lost my entire twenties and some of my thirties to mold, my brain is trying to find some lessons that help be better understand what those might deal with on a daily basis. It is a dementia simulation of shorts.
Headaches, hives, muscle pain, food intolerances, depression, grogginess, skin issues, ear pressure, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, feeling like my entire body is vibrating, weakness in my hands, numbness throughout my body that would come and go, fatigue that would lay me flat for a day or more, wounds that would never heal, brain fog and memory issues so dense I frightened me, weight gain, hair loss, and so much more.
Doctors who laughed at me, didn’t believe me, told me I was not ill, prescriptions that made me feel sick and destroyed in part my teeth, lawyers who tried to take advantage of me, lost time and moments when memories were to be maid, a life was prime to be build.
This isn’t dementia, but many people I work with who have you invading their life mention things that overlap. We have a poor way of dealing with illness and health concerns in our society, and we can’t blame it all on health care or health insurance. So how do we live with you? How can we still flourish with you in our lives? How do we cope with the “lost years?”
That is a question I am still looking for answers to, but know is possible.
Until tomorrow,
Kate
