Today everything is caterwumpas.

When the world doesn’t quite line up the way it is supposed to.

Tru here.

I know where I am. I know what I am looking at. But somehow those two things don’t quite connect.

I keep catching myself falling—or leaning—and when I try to look directly at something, what I perceive isn’t quite where my eyes are aimed.

It isn’t simply that my vision is blurry.

It’s stranger than that.

My eyes and my perception don’t seem to agree about where things are.

I look at one place and somehow experience another.

Then I look again.

And there it is—where it should have been all along.

Except that for a moment, my brain didn’t put it there.

It is extraordinarily disorienting.

And underneath all of that is the falling.

I keep catching myself leaning or beginning to fall, sometimes before I even realize that I am doing it.

That makes this feel very different from simply having wonky vision.

When I cannot quite trust where my body is, life suddenly feels very fragile.

I know I am here.
I know where I am.
But for a moment, I cannot be entirely sure that my body agrees.

And because I know that my perception is behaving strangely, I keep trying to compensate for it. I look again. I steady myself. I reach for my walker.

And then—

caterwumpas.

Everything is just slightly, profoundly, inexplicably off.

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Update the next morning: And now there is the issue of taste.

This morning I still have almost no taste.

I have very little taste sensation normally—there are only a few things I can reliably taste—but those few things are gone right now, too.

So it isn’t simply that the world looks caterwumpas.

For the moment, even some of the little ways I normally experience the world through my senses have gone missing.

And that is a very strange feeling.

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Associated LINKS on my own Blogsite:

My personal Facebook profile is under the name “Truthful Kindness,” and you can find more about me on this blog under the “About” tab (although that page was posted long ago and also needs updating). >> https://truthfulkindness.com/about/about-me/

When the Window Closes

Another Bad Day

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Attached Picture:

“Caterwumpas” — created from a visual seed combining several of Tru’s original paintings with a black cat in a black crochet environment, then transformed with AI into this whimsical expression of perceptions gone slightly askew.

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Contact Options:

Other contact options are FaceBook and “X” (aka Twitter), both under “Truthful Kindness”. On Reddit, i am at “TruthfulKindness” in groups “r/dementia”, “r/lewybodydementia”, and “r/alzheimers”. i dropped my LinkedIn membership quite a few years ago. If requesting “friend” status for any form of Social media, please send a private message explaining that you are a reader of my blog. …

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* Admin Notes — This entry began 2026Sep11, and is by Truthful Loving Kindness (my full legal name) for https://truthfulkindness.com/. For comments or questions, please use that website. The subscription box is now located at the bottom of each blog entry. i also write and publish under the shorter name Truthful Kindness. My current formal diagnosis remains at the stage of Mild Cognitive Impairment, although my Primary Care Physician and several other medical professionals consider it some form of dementia; my PCP records currently state “Dementia without behavioral disturbance, unspecified dementia type.” In recent years, my PCP, my husband/care-partner, and I have jointly decided to discontinue specialist consultations, as the distance and emotional strain of repeated evaluations are not worth the cost to my well-being. My symptoms most closely resemble Lewy Body and vascular dementia patterns; however, SPECT and PET imaging show the most significant brain changes in the temporal lobes, creating overlap with the logopenic variant of Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA), a subtype within the frontotemporal dementia spectrum. Nothing in this blog is meant as medical, legal, or service dog advice; what I share here comes from lived experience—an attempt to design around decline and make daily life more workable—so please use your own judgment and consult professionals who understand your specific situation. Text Copyright © Truthful L. Kindness, 2026Sep11 . You can learn more about me under the “About Me” tab (note: that page is due for updating). Comments are welcome—please filter them through truthful loving kindness toward all concerned. As of 2026, I use ChatGPT as an editor, which improves readability and reduces the time I spend in the writing process. I do not mind re-posting of my work; however, if you do re-post, you must clearly indicate that the writing is not your own, prominently identify my authorship as Truthful Kindness, and include a clear link to my website so that questions and comments can be directed to me personally: at http://www.truthfulkindness.com.

*** categ: Jrnl, Sx, Dementia Symptom Tips, Vascular. *** tags: ·  balance, ·  caterwumpus, ·  cerebrovascular disease, ·  cognitive changes, ·  dementia, ·  disorientation, ·  falling, ·  sensory changes, ·  visual illusion, ·  visual perception. *** Add to Pgs/ *** S&S Categ: Confusion/Dis-Orientation, Sight/Vision, Balance/Falling

PS of Ai short summary: A firsthand account of experiencing severe perceptual disorientation, falling and leaning, and temporary loss of taste while living with dementia.