My mum cares for my nan who has vascular dementia. I think she is amazing to have kept my nan in her own home when nan really is quite advanced now, needing a lot of personal care. I have just taken my mum abroad for a week's respite and we have been called home as my nan is malnourished, dehydrated and has had a fall probably due to a severe water infection and has been admitted to hospital. I am angry at the carer who we trusted but that's another issue. We desperately want to keep my nan in her own home rather than have her so into care, so what suggestions do people have for making things easier and safer and for preventing these awful water infections that affect her so much? Also nan becomes fixated on turning the heat up high or turning it completely off when it's needed. Does anyone know of a device that would set the temperature for us and prevent her being able to change it?
Hi claireizz, your Mum sounds fantastic and a truly amazing person. It will be hard for her and take its toll so make sure she looks after herself too.
I understand that you want to keep Nan in her own home for as long as possible, I tried with my Mum but have had to move her unfortunately.
There are some things that were recommended to me that worked so I'm very happy to share...
- Mums Alzheimer's impacts the way she sees things and she'd forget that it was a drink that I'd given her. By putting the drink in a brightly coloured glass she can see the drink and would finish the entire thing. It also meant that as she could see the glass she was happy pouring liquid into it
- Same with eating, I bought brightly coloured plates and she can now use them. She can't use a knife and fork so we use fingers or spoon, again, whatever works so sandwiches and salads come in very useful!
- Have a care company come and walk round the house - your consultant or local council should be able to give you some phone numbers. They will be able to tell you what you need i.e.grab rail here, move that rug, think about where that table goes etc.etc.
As for your heating problems there are lots of sites that offer lockable devices, one I've just found on google is security saftey products. com (I've not used them before, just googled it).There's a large amount of products when you start looking and it's all a bit overwhelming sometimes.
Hope this has helped a little bit and I wish you and your family well.
V x
