Dementia Awareness

It’s odd but me and Missis T had the same conversation last night. We both think that both my mum and dad will say “we are ok”. Me Mum was upset on the phone yesterday. Basically the penny has dropped re me dads condition. Both me and Missis T has been telling her what to expect re me dad’s dementia. Both from having seen it when Missis Ts father passed away with it. But the experience Missis T had gained as a nurse.
My mum said “ don’t get on at me when you come round”. The problem is, me mum has a good idea and sticks with it and you cannot advice her. She told me yesterday that she is putting bin liners under his bed sheets. I have told her there is proper bed and chair liners. After the poppy count yesterday I called into ASDA and fetched her some and some proper Mens Tena pants. The ones from Aldi she has put an”F” on the front so she knows which way they go.
My mother is stubborn and hates being wrong. I told her in March if she books another holiday abroad I am not going round to see her again. Apart from being robbed in Benidorm, apart from nearly missing plane on another holiday, apart from not getting me dads water infection sorted on a cruise when he has Luekemia, etc etc . They have been ok.
Around May I had to take him to the drs as his back is agony. It hurts because he fell over a suitcase when they were being loaded into the taxi to take them to the airport. It since transpires he was in agony for 2 weeks. I found out when he told the dr. I was bloody livid.
Me mum asked me the week before I took him to the drs to change my mind. I was adamant I wouldn’t, it was me or holidays. I tried explaining that what happens to dad if anything happens to her on holiday. She said “ insurance would look after him”. I had taken her out for a meal and when I got home I spoke to my brother who is a great help. He said “ do you know mum fell over on the garden today and couldn’t get up”. I was bloody livid. My mother is very cute at what she wants to tell me. She has given my dad a bollocking for letting out things that have happened and she has said” I told you not to say anything”. Completely forgetting that with dementia he will actually forget he has been told 😖
Up until yesterday I have been quite chilled about everything and took it in my stride. But I knew I was getting stressed. I took grandkids to the poppy count and Layla Tash nudged the table which had £200 counted on it, the money spilled onto uncounted money and I nearly blew my top. I never said a word but inside I was seething. I calmed down after half an hour but it was a stupid straw that nearly broke a camels back. I thought mum, dad, me needs help now.
Getting some stuff off me chest before am out in 20 mins taking down Poppy, soldier silhouettes.
Thanks for the advice guys.
Reading this gets me quite emotional. We had the same thing with my Father in Law. I tried to take as much as I could off my missus but in the end she had to be off work for 6 months with stress. If I'm being honest, she's never been the same since.
Get all the help you can and keep coming on here. It was such a big help for me being able to talk about it on here. My missus has no other family so it was basically on us. She has a son, but whilst he is a great lad, I don't think he really understood the gravity of the situation. 5 years on and working with disadvantaged teenagers, he would be a different person, but that's what lifes experiences brings you.
You think you've been quite chilled, but I think you're probably bottling it up and then suddenly something makes it blow, like the money incident. It's not your fault, we're all like that and it's just what we do.
What I do know from my experience with both my Mother and Father-in-Law is that I don't want to put my kids through that. They have their lives to live, and looking after me should not be part of it. I've watched my Father die in agony, my Mother and Father in Law deterioate, it's not easy.
It never leaves you. All these years on I can still feel myself filling up.
 
Reading this gets me quite emotional. We had the same thing with my Father in Law. I tried to take as much as I could off my missus but in the end she had to be off work for 6 months with stress. If I'm being honest, she's never been the same since.
Get all the help you can and keep coming on here. It was such a big help for me being able to talk about it on here. My missus has no other family so it was basically on us. She has a son, but whilst he is a great lad, I don't think he really understood the gravity of the situation. 5 years on and working with disadvantaged teenagers, he would be a different person, but that's what lifes experiences brings you.
You think you've been quite chilled, but I think you're probably bottling it up and then suddenly something makes it blow, like the money incident. It's not your fault, we're all like that and it's just what we do.
What I do know from my experience with both my Mother and Father-in-Law is that I don't want to put my kids through that. They have their lives to live, and looking after me should not be part of it. I've watched my Father die in agony, my Mother and Father in Law deterioate, it's not easy.
It never leaves you. All these years on I can still feel myself filling up.
Jeez the last two sentences have got to me.
Brings it all back very emotional.

I’m getting to the time in my life where I think of these things.
Both my parents had this horrible disease.
I’m very worried I won’t lie .
 
My beloved is showing signs 😢
I sympathise. I am wondering about my good lady as well. We're having the same conversation over and over, or she forgets what we discussed and asks again. I think she may be sort of suspecting it herself but its very difficult to discuss with her. I'll be keeping a close eye on her and see how it goes.
 
I sympathise. I am wondering about my good lady as well. We're having the same conversation over and over, or she forgets what we discussed and asks again. I think she may be sort of suspecting it herself but its very difficult to discuss with her. I'll be keeping a close eye on her and see how it goes.
The sooner you do something the better the outcome.
New drugs and help can put things off.
But the main thing is a diagnosis you know what your dealing with then.

Hope it’s not and good luck.
 
The sooner you do something the better the outcome.
New drugs and help can put things off.
But the main thing is a diagnosis you know what your dealing with then.

Hope it’s not and good luck.
I really couldn’t put it better. If I had to sum up dementia, it’s “ one shoe don’t fit all”. Everyone and every person suffering with dementia is different. When I think back to the initial difficult decision I had with my dad. It went as well as could be expected. He was diagnosed and treated early. Compare that to father in law. It was a nightmare. He physically shoved Missis Tash out of his house. He wouldn’t hear anything mentioned about him going “ do lally”, his words. Eventually he had no choice but to see a GP.
Early diagnosis is paramount. Good luck to all in a horrible position.
 
Never seen this! Thank you for sharing it I’m definitely guilty of some of this with my mum lately. Actually saving this and sharing it with my brother sometimes we need a step back to understand.
We're guilty because no one's coached us so we learn from mistakes. From then on if my Mum mentioned hers I'd say "She had to go shopping, she'll see you tomorrow". Smiling Mum.
The other "mistake" pointed out to me, gently, was visiting almost daily - the home was a 20min walk. Apparently I was not allowing her to acclimatise. She'd ask if I'd come to get her.
I complied but that was hard.
But they were right.
 
We're guilty because no one's coached us so we learn from mistakes. From then on if my Mum mentioned hers I'd say "She had to go shopping, she'll see you tomorrow". Smiling Mum.
The other "mistake" pointed out to me, gently, was visiting almost daily - the home was a 20min walk. Apparently I was not allowing her to acclimatise. She'd ask if I'd come to get her.
I complied but that was hard.
But they were right.
Totally agree about learning from mistakes. That’s one of the reasons I find this thread very helpful. When I starting reading this thread I found it hard to relate to other peoples experiences. Until I then found myself in there previous position.
Went to see me dad yesterday, missis Tash had taken me mum out to get some stuff from down town. Bedding etc. Anyway I was with him for a couple of hours and flippin eck the things we talked about.
He mentioned about when he was 18, ( two weeks before he was 19). He and a pal cycled from Manchester to Inverness. He was reeling off the places he went through, the Youth hostels he stayed at, “Devils elbow” which is an old double bend on a road in Scotland. The time he put with leather cycling shoes in the oven coz they were drenched, and they shrunk 3 sizes. He was reeling stuff off from 1955 re this cycling trip. And I am wondering how the hell he remembered that. I showed him an internet photo of Devils elbow. He said “ Ave got a better photo of that. And he disappeared. He came back a couple of minutes later with a load of photos and postcards of devils elbow. He also had a small diary which he wrote in during his 2 week trip. It was amazing. He slept in Edinburgh station and caught the train back to Manchester as they were behind schedule.
The memories to read were amazing. It was a fantastic couple of hours.
Unfortunately his memories will eventually be shared at his funeral.
 
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I mentioned this early on in the thread but I'll do it again. Anyone who is touched by this, look for a Dementia Friends talk / evening. We found it so helpful in understanding what the person is going through, how we should deal with it. It made our approach so much more sympathetic, it is one of the best things you could do.
 
Never seen this! Thank you for sharing it I’m definitely guilty of some of this with my mum lately. Actually saving this and sharing it with my brother sometimes we need a step back to understand.
It’s like a role reversal.
You learn as you go on to look after her .
You become like her parents and she needs to be able to just waffle on as they go back to when they were younger.!
Just agree and talk with her .



We had a knock on the door at 6am it was a neighbour with my mum in her nightie in February and very cold.
She was at the bus stop going “home” to Mersey st where she lived as a girl.
You need your wits about you as they can be very clever about going missing.😂
Sounds funny but for our neighbour recognising her it could have been very serious.
 
I'm hoping that if ever I get to this then assisted dying will be up and running. No way would I want my kids to go through the stuff I've read last few pages
 
I'm hoping that if ever I get to this then assisted dying will be up and running. No way would I want my kids to go through the stuff I've read last few pages
That’s a massively difficult one. There were days with FIL When he was in a seriously bad place. The next day you could talk to him for half an hour and think what the heck has brought him back. The next day he was worse.
 
I sympathise. I am wondering about my good lady as well. We're having the same conversation over and over, or she forgets what we discussed and asks again. I think she may be sort of suspecting it herself but its very difficult to discuss with her. I'll be keeping a close eye on her and see how it goes.
It's really hard with a parent. I can only imagine what it must be like when it's your partner.
From experience with both parents and how I feel about the possibility of ever becoming a sufferer myself, I would absolutely get help at the earliest sign.
 
That’s a massively difficult one. There were days with FIL When he was in a seriously bad place. The next day you could talk to him for half an hour and think what the heck has brought him back. The next day he was worse.
It's a dreadful disease. That tears at the very heartstrings of the family.
 
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