My partner, aged 74, received his diagnosis this week and the consultant told him he could not drive, with immediate effect. The diagnosis was not a shock to me but the driving ban was I had not expected it so soon. Actually, there is nothing currently wrong with his driving, but that's not the problem here. He has never acknowledged that he has memory problems, and had to be got to the doctor's under pretext of getting his medication for other pre-existing conditions checked. He denies that he has any problems and argued with the consultant that there is nothing wrong with him and she doesn't know her job.
He has completely forgotten that he has had a diagnosis and that he was told not to drive. The thing is, he was quite happy to let me drive before, but now I have to keep telling him that he can't drive, he gets angry and there is a massive row. The issue crops up at least once a day, when he wants to drive me to the shops or visit relatives etc. Our relationship has always been a calm and placid one until now. He's just oblivious to the driving ban and I have no idea how to tackle this. He just says the doctor said no such thing and he will sort her out. Relatives have advised hiding the car keys etc, but he's not stupid, and sooner or later I would have to find them to use the car as we live in a rural area. I have considered actually selling the car, but he really loves it, and selling it would break his heart. I love it too as I treated myself to it with my redundancy pay-off from my last job. I am content to accept the doctor's view on his driving, though I think it's premature, but how on earth do I make this work? Normally I am a strong person but the rows are getting me down and I am in tears all the time. The stress is causing me to have migraines which I haven't had for 20 years. Since lockdown, we have spent the whole day, every day in this house together and I have been unable to go anywhere on my own. Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with the driving issue?
He has completely forgotten that he has had a diagnosis and that he was told not to drive. The thing is, he was quite happy to let me drive before, but now I have to keep telling him that he can't drive, he gets angry and there is a massive row. The issue crops up at least once a day, when he wants to drive me to the shops or visit relatives etc. Our relationship has always been a calm and placid one until now. He's just oblivious to the driving ban and I have no idea how to tackle this. He just says the doctor said no such thing and he will sort her out. Relatives have advised hiding the car keys etc, but he's not stupid, and sooner or later I would have to find them to use the car as we live in a rural area. I have considered actually selling the car, but he really loves it, and selling it would break his heart. I love it too as I treated myself to it with my redundancy pay-off from my last job. I am content to accept the doctor's view on his driving, though I think it's premature, but how on earth do I make this work? Normally I am a strong person but the rows are getting me down and I am in tears all the time. The stress is causing me to have migraines which I haven't had for 20 years. Since lockdown, we have spent the whole day, every day in this house together and I have been unable to go anywhere on my own. Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with the driving issue?