Hello. My 85 year old mum had a memory assessment in May and a brain scan two weeks ago. I just had a phone call from the clinic saying she is diagnosed with vascular dementia. (I confess I'm not 100% sure of the difference between Alzheimers and vascular dementia -I hope I will still be allowed to post in an Alzheimer's forum if she hasn't got it Although they did say she might also be in the early stages of Alzheimer's -it's hard to be sure, on top of the vascualar diagnosis they are confident of.
Either way, it just confirms my own suspicions of something being wrong over the last few months. I guess now it is just a case of carrying on, as there is nothing that can be done for her? She is at least quite cheerful - constantly tells people there's nothing wrong with her; she just cant remember anything. She lives in sheltered accommodation and has a care visitor come once a day at lunchtimes to ensure she has remembered/remembers to heat up her microwave meals (which I label with day and meal) I guess it's a case of monitoring her progress, seeing at what point she might need more care visits or something more than that.
Is there any point telling my mother? She'd probably understand about dementia.Funnily enough a couple of years ago she always used to joke about "having dementia "when she used to write notes all the time, but ever since it has become obvious her memory is going, she hasnt made that comment any more. She seems happy enough, although bemused why carers visit her and why she has appointments as she thinks her memory issues are just about getting old. I'm tempted to let her think that - what do others think?
Either way, it just confirms my own suspicions of something being wrong over the last few months. I guess now it is just a case of carrying on, as there is nothing that can be done for her? She is at least quite cheerful - constantly tells people there's nothing wrong with her; she just cant remember anything. She lives in sheltered accommodation and has a care visitor come once a day at lunchtimes to ensure she has remembered/remembers to heat up her microwave meals (which I label with day and meal) I guess it's a case of monitoring her progress, seeing at what point she might need more care visits or something more than that.
Is there any point telling my mother? She'd probably understand about dementia.Funnily enough a couple of years ago she always used to joke about "having dementia "when she used to write notes all the time, but ever since it has become obvious her memory is going, she hasnt made that comment any more. She seems happy enough, although bemused why carers visit her and why she has appointments as she thinks her memory issues are just about getting old. I'm tempted to let her think that - what do others think?