My Stardust Memory; the Memory of Love's Refrain

G'Day. Last night I watched an episode of the TV show, "House". No big deal, you may say. You might have even watched this episode yourself. It was the one where a young firefighter is admitted to hospital in a state of confusion and delusion following a collapse a building fire. It is dicovered that he has entered an early menopause as a result of burn grafts to about 54% of his body, including his testicles, which resulted in a hormone imbalance, hence the menopause. Weird enough in itself, but I guess it might happen. But then he it is discovered that he suffers a heart attack every time his lovely young female colleague is around. A broken heart, so to speak, as she is engaged to his firefighter brother, and has a 6 year old child. She was the reason that he ended up with the major burns as he went into a burning building to rescue her, and was caught in a backdraft.....

But this isn't the reason for my post. It was decided that the only way to keep him alive and well, and to treat his heart attacks, would be to prevent them by destroying the limbic centre of his brain with electro-convulsive therapy; shock treatment. The negative effect of this treatment would be the total loss of his memories. His love for the girl, his memories of the girl, his brother, the accident, his training as a firefighter, his parents, childhood, his life...all gone. He opted to go ahead with the treatment.







I guess, my question is, Would you do the same?






Would I?








Are we the sum of our memories? Is the life we live now a consequence of the inner workings of our minds?








We readily acknowledge how our past and the acceptance of of incidences that occurred in our past profoundly effect the lives we live now. The good, the bad and the ugly. The sad, the joyous things. We spend so much of our existence musing about the past, even as children. So many conversations begain with "Do you remember that time when....?" Our memories can give us comfort, can cause us pain. They can amuse us. We can share them.









It is often said ;
"That when all else is gone, at least we'll have our memories....".
Working with people with dementia, I am only too aware how absolutely gut-wrenching it is when this last aspect of what seems to be a link with humanity, slowly disappears. Families and dementia sufferers mourn this loss keenly. When faced with the question of what they would change in their lives, so many people answer "nothing, because I am this person because of the life I've lived, the people I've met, and the experiences I've had".







But for others, maybe the chance to start again with a clean slate may be preferable. No bad memories, nothing to live over and over and over again....... Would there be the levels of depression and mental illness that there are now, I wonder.............................






But to start again as an adult, and not have a childhood.....................................







It would be near to impossible for the loved ones to cope with this of course. There are a lot of people who do live through this; Anyone who is involved with someone with a brain injury of any kind may experience this change of personality and persona. But this is not a choice that has been made; it is imposed by circumstance. So many of our beliefs and social mores are based on the cumulative effects upon our lifes up to this point. How does one have beliefs and opinions with nothing upon which to base them?




Anyway, I'm rambling. It just made me think, that's all.






If it were my choice, I think I would keep my memories.






And for those who didn't see the episode, it was discovered that the firefighter has a tumour... which created false memories... his brother and the young lady were not engaged at all..... chances are that after the tumour was removed, that his memories would have returned to normal.



Maybe he would have even gotten the girl............................


See you all later, C x0x0x0