Hi All
so its been a week since I told my nan the news that her initial memory test results were not good, which has resulted in some more questions!
She took it much better than I expected, however I'm not sure she believed it at first and she kept saying "but there is nothing wrong with me, I just forget things". I had to keep trying to explain to her that that is what the problem actually is! She was not best pleased about her not being able to drive, however she has taken on board that if she does and something happened it could be someone's job on the line if they hadn't said it is not recommended. I have persuaded her to give up her license voluntarily, on the basis that the consultant might say that she is OK to drive once she has had the full tests completed. I am going to make sure that does not happen though. When I sat her down, I said that if the DVLA looked at making the decision that they would look at her driving history, I know this may not be the case but I was concerned that they would say she can continue to drive. She thought her history was brilliant, and when I told her that she had had an accident last year she could not remember it or believe it so I definitely think that removing her license is the best thing to do.
She has already started saying that she is going to lie to the hospital and is expecting us to do the same, and correct nan if she gets something wrong when we are there. I have told her that the paper tests are completed and that they are now going to be taking pictures inside her brain to see what is going on and she then says "oh yes, it is bad in there". Once we know who her consultant is, I'm going to write to him and explain our concerns and the fact that when we go to this appointment she is expecting us to lie. We are trying to tread carefully in terms of not pushing her away, so I need the consultant to know what it is we are seeing without her feeling like I am "telling" on her.
I'm not sure if she has been hiding it well, but I certainly feel that in the last week she has got significantly worse. for the last couple of evenings she has kept getting out of bed and thinking it is morning. Its usually when she hears my son in the kitchen, or come home from work. She did it 3 times last night, and I was starting to consider a possible UTI its getting that bad, however this morning she knew that she had done it. Does this sound like normal dementia, or could there be something more going on? Last night she also walked into the living room to tell me that she was going to use the bathroom and had I booked an appointment. I asked her for what, and she just said that that wasn't what she wanted to ask me. she then used the bathroom, came back in and said "but I cant use my car". I asked her what she needed it for and she couldn't explain, so I just diverted her into the fact that her scooter is going to be serviced this week so she will be able to get out and about.
Last night she was also sick. She had had the hiccups all day apparently and threw up, without making it to the bathroom but the hiccups stopped once she had done that. I suspect it was because she says she didn't eat yesterday, again anything I should be concerned about?
so its been a week since I told my nan the news that her initial memory test results were not good, which has resulted in some more questions!
She took it much better than I expected, however I'm not sure she believed it at first and she kept saying "but there is nothing wrong with me, I just forget things". I had to keep trying to explain to her that that is what the problem actually is! She was not best pleased about her not being able to drive, however she has taken on board that if she does and something happened it could be someone's job on the line if they hadn't said it is not recommended. I have persuaded her to give up her license voluntarily, on the basis that the consultant might say that she is OK to drive once she has had the full tests completed. I am going to make sure that does not happen though. When I sat her down, I said that if the DVLA looked at making the decision that they would look at her driving history, I know this may not be the case but I was concerned that they would say she can continue to drive. She thought her history was brilliant, and when I told her that she had had an accident last year she could not remember it or believe it so I definitely think that removing her license is the best thing to do.
She has already started saying that she is going to lie to the hospital and is expecting us to do the same, and correct nan if she gets something wrong when we are there. I have told her that the paper tests are completed and that they are now going to be taking pictures inside her brain to see what is going on and she then says "oh yes, it is bad in there". Once we know who her consultant is, I'm going to write to him and explain our concerns and the fact that when we go to this appointment she is expecting us to lie. We are trying to tread carefully in terms of not pushing her away, so I need the consultant to know what it is we are seeing without her feeling like I am "telling" on her.
I'm not sure if she has been hiding it well, but I certainly feel that in the last week she has got significantly worse. for the last couple of evenings she has kept getting out of bed and thinking it is morning. Its usually when she hears my son in the kitchen, or come home from work. She did it 3 times last night, and I was starting to consider a possible UTI its getting that bad, however this morning she knew that she had done it. Does this sound like normal dementia, or could there be something more going on? Last night she also walked into the living room to tell me that she was going to use the bathroom and had I booked an appointment. I asked her for what, and she just said that that wasn't what she wanted to ask me. she then used the bathroom, came back in and said "but I cant use my car". I asked her what she needed it for and she couldn't explain, so I just diverted her into the fact that her scooter is going to be serviced this week so she will be able to get out and about.
Last night she was also sick. She had had the hiccups all day apparently and threw up, without making it to the bathroom but the hiccups stopped once she had done that. I suspect it was because she says she didn't eat yesterday, again anything I should be concerned about?