A temporary state of bewilderment

She had just hung the washing on the line, and quickly came inside to ask for a couple of coconuts.

Sue Thomson’s (pictured on page 1) children looked at her with bewilderment, they could not make the connection between laundry and the island fruit.

‘‘In my head I asked for two coathangers, but what came out of my mouth was ‘give me two coconuts’,’’ the former Auckland nurse recalls.

At the time, Thomson was suffering from temporary dementia and her strange question was a symptom of her condition. Dementia is an illness that drastically diminishes mental ability and significantly hampers daily life.

In 2014, the Titirangi resident was at a friend’s place when she had a nasty fall that knocked her unconscious. When she woke up everything seemed confusing.

‘‘It was a traumatic brain injury. When I woke up I could not remember anything. It took a lot of therapy to get going again.’’

Ironically, at the time she had been working as a dementia behavioural support and advisory co-ordinator for the Counties Manukau District Health Board.

Thomson’s background as a mental health nurse helped her understand what had happened physiologically, but nothing could have prepared the then 52-yearold for the challenges ahead.

‘‘After my injury, I had forgotten how to read, I could not watch television because the images just confused me. I had nothing to do. The only thing that kept me going were the long walks I would go for in Titirangi. They were great, they kept me going.’’

Her short-lived brush with the degenerative illness got Thomson thinking about how difficult it must be for permanent sufferers.

Thomson is now an advocate for spreading awareness about the disease. She is going to speak about the correlation between head injuries and dementia at the fourth annual Alzheimers Auckland Symposium on August 28.

Alzheimers is the most common form of dementia.

Alzheimer’s New Zealand research indicates there are currently 15,000 people with dementia in the greater Auckland region, a number that may double over the next two decades. The symposium is going to run on Sunday, August 28 from 1pm till 4.30pm, at Waipuna Hotel and Conference Centre. Registration is compulsory.