Hi All,
Well firstly sorry I haven't posted for a while, things have calmed down and ticked over quite nicely in the last 6 months. Grandad even hugged my daughter, something he hasn't done for nearly 1 year, due to the everlasting "12 month flu" he has. That was a really really good day.
I've been reading some of your posts and have been relaying information to Nan - it helps a lot.
Just to retell the situation, Grandad had his second stroke last year, at 81 years. Since then he has vanished into his own world of rules unfortunately. He was diagnosed with vascular dementia.
Since his stroke he lost all ability with time, dates, days, years etc...so is having MAJOR problems with sleeping and routine. He is now experiencing difficulty in swallowing, except for sweets (still on the sweets!).
In the last week he has taken another nose dive. Now he won't let Nan leave the house. He doesn't want people in the house either, and tells them to go home.
He is getting more aggressive, towards anyone that tells him something he doesn't want or believe i.e. Nan is tired, the nurse is coming to see you, it's dinner time, it's bed time etc.
Nothing really that anyone can change. When he is like this I wish that he would just pop off in his sleep. Such an awful thing to say. But the Grandad I knew has already left the building. Sometimes I get the odd glimpse of what he was, but I know he wouldn't want to be like this. One day in an odd moment he told me he was tired, frustrated and wanted to be dead. Then whoosh - back to his world.
Just wanted to vent. This illness moves in circles. Patterns of behaviour tell you so much. Because the decline of the person is so steady you don't really notice how much the person has changed.
Thanks for listening. Best wishes and love to all.
Lindsey
Well firstly sorry I haven't posted for a while, things have calmed down and ticked over quite nicely in the last 6 months. Grandad even hugged my daughter, something he hasn't done for nearly 1 year, due to the everlasting "12 month flu" he has. That was a really really good day.
I've been reading some of your posts and have been relaying information to Nan - it helps a lot.
Just to retell the situation, Grandad had his second stroke last year, at 81 years. Since then he has vanished into his own world of rules unfortunately. He was diagnosed with vascular dementia.
Since his stroke he lost all ability with time, dates, days, years etc...so is having MAJOR problems with sleeping and routine. He is now experiencing difficulty in swallowing, except for sweets (still on the sweets!).
In the last week he has taken another nose dive. Now he won't let Nan leave the house. He doesn't want people in the house either, and tells them to go home.
He is getting more aggressive, towards anyone that tells him something he doesn't want or believe i.e. Nan is tired, the nurse is coming to see you, it's dinner time, it's bed time etc.
Nothing really that anyone can change. When he is like this I wish that he would just pop off in his sleep. Such an awful thing to say. But the Grandad I knew has already left the building. Sometimes I get the odd glimpse of what he was, but I know he wouldn't want to be like this. One day in an odd moment he told me he was tired, frustrated and wanted to be dead. Then whoosh - back to his world.
Just wanted to vent. This illness moves in circles. Patterns of behaviour tell you so much. Because the decline of the person is so steady you don't really notice how much the person has changed.
Thanks for listening. Best wishes and love to all.
Lindsey
