Eric and Ros

Eric: Yes, but I’m just – I just lose, one thing I can’t do is stand up, up, stand for a long time, I’ve tended to faint [laughs].

Oh gosh.

Ros: Two or three times.

Eric: I’ve had it twice.

Ros: Orthostatic –

Eric: I tend to, I mean it’s only twice but.

Ros: Hypotension.

Ah.

Eric: I’ll be careful now not to stand for too long anywhere.

Oh, I see, yeah.

Eric: So, we sing in a choir, normally when you’re doing choir practice you stand but I do it sitting just to save having to stand for twenty minutes or whatever it is.

Oh OK. And where?

Eric: It sounds silly, doesn’t it, but?

Well, no, it sounds like you’re making arrangements to sort of make things work for you, rather than not go to choir practice you…

Eric: Yes, I mean, yes, if I didn’t go to choir practice it wouldn’t be a problem, yes [laughter].

But you enjoy your choir?

Eric: Yes, reasonably [laughs] but. I mean it’s not the best choir in the world [laughter].

Is it a, a mix, a mixed choir or a male choir?

Eric: It’s a mixed choir. Music really is my main hobby.

You’ve been asked to do exercises, is it like a, do you do them in the home or do you go out walking or?

Eric: Well on the whole it’s in the house and there is a gym here where there are various bits of equipment that you can.

Ros: You go, when pressed.

Eric: There is a swimming pool as well and I’m not very good at swimming and I don’t enjoy it very much and, but we do it from time-to-time.

Eric: We do exercises here, don’t we?

Ros: Yes.

Eric: On the, and what is it, Hi, Tai-Chi or?

Ros: YouTube and we do Pilates here at the [retirement village] and Tai-Chi.

Ah OK. In, in, somewhere else in the building?

Ros: In, in, yes, they’ve got a studio.

Eric: There, there’s a gym room.

Ros: Yes, gym.

Oh, that’s nice.

Ros: Yes.

Eric: Yes.

Do you, so do you, do you get on all right with doing that, the Pilates and?

Ros: Yes, you do.

Eric: Reasonably well.

Ros: Mm.

Eric: Yes.

I’ve always fancied Tai-Chi but I haven’t done it, is it a bit difficult to balance?

Eric: My balance is my difficult bit and I can’t do that.

Ros: But you keep trying.

Eric: Mm?

Ros: You keep trying.

So, would, can you sort of tell me about that, what happened there? What, did they send you to have more tests? Who did you see about it?

Eric: Well, I did a simple memory test didn’t I, you know?

Ros: Cognition test.

Eric: A, where they tell you every, a story, someone lives at somewhere and who would do, what to do, and I did those tests, he was marking out what the time was on the clock and that sort of thing. What else was it?

Ros: You got something like 28 out of 30, which was quite high, surprisingly.

Eric: But it went down the next time I did it to, was it 26 or something?

Ros: Yeah.

Eric: So, it was a definite movement and that made me feel uncomfortable [laughs].

Eric: And then we moved, decided we, there’s no stairs here, that’s one of the advantages of this place.

Ros: And if we need care there’s care available.

So, so you’ve sort of, in moving here you’ve thought about plans and sort of safety net for the future?

Ros: Yes, yes.

Eric: Yeah.

Ros: That’s exactly right.

Eric: Mm.

Ros: That’s the only reason.

So, do you want to, would you mind telling me about, you know, those, those sort of plans and what you’ve thought about?

Ros: Me? Well yes, obviously, I mean Eric’s going to be eighty-seven in February [coughs] not in the best of health, sort of a bit of a problem with the heart as well. So, if something happens it, there’s a nursing home here and care daily if you want it. So, we thought we’d get there first before, if it happens, it might not happen.

Just describe this place to me, what it is and what it provides, services-wise?

Ros: Well, it’s for, for independent living, if that’s what you’re looking for, which we are here. We can be self-contained and do everything we want to in the flat or we can join in all the activities that go on, and there are lots of things you can do, and we have joined quite a few groups and classes and there are lots of walks around, which we enjoy doing. We can walk to the town, it’s not marvellous but it’s got everything you need. There’s a little minibus that goes if you can’t drive at any stage and goes from here into shopping supermarket things. And I mean it has got a lot going for it, and very nice people who run it.

We preferred our four bedroomed house in [City] [laughs] we’ve got to say [laughs] but this is, you know, thinking ahead.

Eric: but it’s very frustrating. But I mean I, it means I can’t tell jokes because.

Ros: You never could [laughter].

Eric: No, but I’m even worse, if you can’t remember the key word at the end, it doesn’t, doesn’t make it very enjoyable for others [laughter].

Ros: True.

Miss the punch line.

Ros: It’s painful [laughs].

Eric: Well, it’s, it’s like I keep forgetting people’s names. I mean I, I just forget things fairly quickly, don’t I?

Ros: Yes.

Eric: Some things I can remember and, from a long time ago stuff, but recent, I, I meet people and I learn their, no. I’m told their name but I find it difficult to learn it.

Yeah, it doesn’t stay?

Eric: Yes. And that’s the most obvious sort of way. I mean I know my brain isn’t working as well as it used to. I just feel uncomfortable with it sometimes.

Eric: I mean I know my brain isn’t working as well as it used to. I just feel uncomfortable with it sometimes.

And so did that sort of prompt you to go to the GP about it? 

Eric: Well I went, well I was having trouble with balancing, wasn’t I, and?

Ros: Yes.

So, is there a, was there a connection to, you said you were sort of feeling a bit wobbly, is, is there a connection between those things?

Eric: I think there is a, there, it’s, it’s happening, I mean things are changing, I, I know, and I’m really not able to do what I was able to do before, which is a bit disturbing.

Ros: It was the beginning of Parkinson’s, which includes being a bit unsteady, but really, really.

Eric: It’s my walking I’ve got.

Ros: Walking, yeah.

Eric: Noticed and.

Ros: Mm.

So, did you – have you had a diagnosis of Parkinson’s, is that the?

Eric: I think I’ve had a definite, haven’t I, been told I’ve got Parkinson’s?

Ros: Mm, cognitive problems.

Eric: Oh yes, cognitive, well, well. And I’m supposed to do exercises every day and, and try and do, remember to do things. I, it tends to make you a bit unable to do things [laughs] that sounds a silly thing to say – things that you think you didn’t think, think about, twice about in the past you find you’re having to work at and it, it just doesn’t come out right and I think you think my judgement on things changes.

Ros: Yes, it has.

Do you want to describe what you mean by that?

Eric: Well, when you’re making decisions about, well say, say moving there’s a lot to decide and I’m pretty awful at that sort of thing now. And my, my job was a lot to do with decisions when I was doing it and I think I did it reasonably well [laughs], but I couldn’t do it now, I no way I could tackle being an actuary now.