Hi everyone
My dad has frontal lode dementia which means he can't talk anymore and has very little cognitive understanding. I started looking after him when I was 17 (when he was first diagnosed) and have been living at home ever since. I live with my mum and together we look after him. It's been seven years now since his diagnosis and everyday is a challenge. However I am finding it harder now more then ever as I watch him get more and more confused. I find it most challenging when he is in pain and he can't tell me where it hurts, he just sits and cries and holds his head. This breaks my heart every time, all I can do is give him pain killers and hold his hand. Everyday I will sit and tell him about my day but it's so hard to know weather or not he understands me. My dad is very physically dependent now too, I shower and change him everyday. This is something I find so hard to do because he is my dad! I'm training to be a teacher at the moment and would love his advise so much. He use to be an aid worker in Africa and I know he would have had the best advise! I live in Dorset and wish there was a support group here. My mother goes to one and it has worked wonders for her! I don't feel like I can tell people about his condition becauseI feel like people get awkward around me and don't know what to say. Not many people my age even know what the illness it! So now I feel so isolated and don't know really where to turn too. I found looking through and reading people's' stories has made me feel like I'm not in this alone! So thank you
My dad has frontal lode dementia which means he can't talk anymore and has very little cognitive understanding. I started looking after him when I was 17 (when he was first diagnosed) and have been living at home ever since. I live with my mum and together we look after him. It's been seven years now since his diagnosis and everyday is a challenge. However I am finding it harder now more then ever as I watch him get more and more confused. I find it most challenging when he is in pain and he can't tell me where it hurts, he just sits and cries and holds his head. This breaks my heart every time, all I can do is give him pain killers and hold his hand. Everyday I will sit and tell him about my day but it's so hard to know weather or not he understands me. My dad is very physically dependent now too, I shower and change him everyday. This is something I find so hard to do because he is my dad! I'm training to be a teacher at the moment and would love his advise so much. He use to be an aid worker in Africa and I know he would have had the best advise! I live in Dorset and wish there was a support group here. My mother goes to one and it has worked wonders for her! I don't feel like I can tell people about his condition becauseI feel like people get awkward around me and don't know what to say. Not many people my age even know what the illness it! So now I feel so isolated and don't know really where to turn too. I found looking through and reading people's' stories has made me feel like I'm not in this alone! So thank you