Well, it's been quite a week. My mum had her 88th birthday with cake, candles and a harpist*, and I had a freaky few hours when I realised my personal hotmail account had been hijacked by an illiterate hacker.
The two became strangely linked in my frazzled mind as it got me thinking about Alzheimer's (my mum is suffering the severe stages of this) and wishing we could patch up our own faulty data banks in the same way we can fix a computer breakdown.
If our technology shows strange behaviour,loses its memory or contracts a virus, we can get it fixed; if we start talking gibberish, losing our memories or behaving oddly - and Alzheimer's is diagnosed - there's nothing we can do.
My own mum's early signs were almost insignificant - putting the deodorant in the cupboard next to the baked beans; using the washing machine without detergent. But, without brain technology intervention like that which a computer would receive, it led to confusion and memory wipe-out: forgotten friends, forgotten family and finally, forgotten me.
My hacked hotmail went bananas, sending 'my' personal message to practically everyone I know, and work contacts I had emailed from home,to recommend a weird sounding shopping site for Christmas gifts. I gather it's called 'spoofing'.
Luckily, several people let me know they deleted it straight away having realised the message - "Christmas is coming, you must have any plan to buy something, I'd like to introduce you a very good company - they lower the prices to welcome the Christmas - wish you a good mood in shopping for their company" - didn't sound like me!
As far as mum is concerned, 'computer says no' to getting rid of her 'virus', as dementia still cannot be deleted, even in this age of huge scientific advances.
However, seeing her content and welllooked after at her wonderful nursing home in Birmingham last week I realised it is only me that suffers now. And that, strangely, is a comfort.
*The harpist, by the way, was not provided for mum's birthday; there are many such treats at Neville Williams House!
* Special thanks to Sue Curley of Brunel University who emailed me after receiving the odd email message above to say, 'well that's Bm@il sorted for you, for this week then'.
