Coping with change

[klemon94]

Hi Everyone,

I'm not sure what to say, so I'll just explain what's happened recently

It had been mentioned that my had mild Dementia when he was in a care home for a few months in the first half of last year.

On Sunday my Grandad seemed fine when I visited him and my Grandma before heading back to University. A few hours later my parents told me he had been taken to hospital because he wasn't making sense like he was saying his words back to front and didn't know people were.
He has also been talking about really random memories that nobody knows anything about. He keeps saying that he's been to various places and that he's trying to get back home. He does mention current things though like the fact I'm at Uni and my Uncle getting married in October.
The nurses at the hospital aren't great with him either probably because he shouts out alot and apparently can be quite aggressive at times. He also keeps wanting to get up and go places which results in him falling over most of the time. They keep trying to send him home from the hospital even after all this. This would be very difficult for my grandma who is 84 and doesn't have the best of mobility and quite week, especially if my grandad is being aggressive, threatening and falling over each time he stands up (they both live together in a bungalow.

I really can't get my head around it all, how my grandad seemed fine in the morning on Sunday and then just a few hours later not making much sense at all.

How do people come to terms with the fact a relative has dementia?

Katie

 

[Kevinl]

This is probably not as helpful as you might want but it's the best I can do.
There are no rules with AZ just realities and that's what you have to deal with.
Unlike when you have a child and can watch them develop everyday with AZ you're just seeing them unwind slowly each day. All you can really do is help to make their life as nice as you can, gloss over their mistakes and enjoy the time you have, the happier you are the happier they will be too, happiness is quite infectious.
AZ is a slow and cruel way for life to end but so is cancer, MS or any number of things just do your bit and join in as and when you feel necessary don't wait to be asked.
Last bit "How do people come to terms with the fact a relative has dementia?" you don't you just have to figure out how best to deal with it in the best way you can, God knows I never had any training, I just make it up as I go along there's precious little help as a carer so common sense and reading up on here is as good as it gets.
K

 

[Onlyme]

Has he been checked for a urine infection? These come on really quickly and can completely change someone with dementia.