Hi. My Dad is just turning 90. While he's been increasingly forgetful and repetitive for a few months, there was nothing causing us major concern. He lives some distance away and has been managing ok. However, he has over the past couple of weeks or so undergone a significant deterioration. He is now very confused and needing help with personal hygiene, meals etc. Sometimes incontinent. Still knows who we all are, but has forgotten they my Mum died last year and keeps asking where she is. Bis conversation is limited and confused quite a lot of the time. We are waiting for an appointment at the memory clinic.
The speed and suddenness of his decline has somewhat blindsided me. We had plans for him to move nearer to myself and my sibling into a retirement flat. But that doesn't seem feasible now as we don't think he could cope with the change. And the flat is all about independent living, not a care home. We now have carers coming in 3x a day. Hoping that will keep things steady for a while, but conscious that if he continues to decline this rapidly, we may be looking at care home options. Really not sure whether that would be best local to him, or whether we move him to us at that point.
He also has physical health problems with a likely cancer diagnosis due, and I have no idea how we are going to manage getting him to all the appointments while holding down our jobs 3 hours plus away from him!
I'd be really interested if anyone else has experience of someone undergoing a very rapid decline and how that panned out? And the pros and cons of moving him?
It's such a horrid illness. We only lost my Mum last year and she had vascular dementia. But I really wasn't expecting to be at this point already with my Dad.
Thanks.
The speed and suddenness of his decline has somewhat blindsided me. We had plans for him to move nearer to myself and my sibling into a retirement flat. But that doesn't seem feasible now as we don't think he could cope with the change. And the flat is all about independent living, not a care home. We now have carers coming in 3x a day. Hoping that will keep things steady for a while, but conscious that if he continues to decline this rapidly, we may be looking at care home options. Really not sure whether that would be best local to him, or whether we move him to us at that point.
He also has physical health problems with a likely cancer diagnosis due, and I have no idea how we are going to manage getting him to all the appointments while holding down our jobs 3 hours plus away from him!
I'd be really interested if anyone else has experience of someone undergoing a very rapid decline and how that panned out? And the pros and cons of moving him?
It's such a horrid illness. We only lost my Mum last year and she had vascular dementia. But I really wasn't expecting to be at this point already with my Dad.
Thanks.
