Hello all,
I have been sitting on the sidelines for a couple of weeks now. I have found the stories sad comforting and familiar so I thought I would take the plunge and join in. My dad is currently in an psychiatric assessment unit. He has some form of dementia they think it is vascular but we are awaiting spec scan results. Dad has been behaving oddly memory loss and going back in time for roughly two years, but two weeks ago he was taking absolute rubbish repeatedly and almost howling, he ended up being admitted to the local mental hospital. The ward he is on is actually much nicer than many 'normal wards' I have seen and his care is superb. The problem is my mum is so upset by this, and all their friends have stopped calling. I live 300 miles away and run and own a business. I am selling up to return home to help my mum but in the interim I can only get home every two weeks for a day and a half as if I do not work i don't get paid. My sister is at home and is a big help to mum and dad but she has a young family and also needs to work.
Sorry if this sounds all doom but I wondered how other people cope, at the minute I wake up feeling guilty as if I am failing my parents, and the bits in between I worry about what is happening. Dad has good and bad days but currently he thinks that we have left him and that we do not love him. My head tells me that this is his illness but my heart aches for him, are there thing that we can do to make him feel safer and more comfortable?
Any advice welcome, thanks in advance
Jacquie
I have been sitting on the sidelines for a couple of weeks now. I have found the stories sad comforting and familiar so I thought I would take the plunge and join in. My dad is currently in an psychiatric assessment unit. He has some form of dementia they think it is vascular but we are awaiting spec scan results. Dad has been behaving oddly memory loss and going back in time for roughly two years, but two weeks ago he was taking absolute rubbish repeatedly and almost howling, he ended up being admitted to the local mental hospital. The ward he is on is actually much nicer than many 'normal wards' I have seen and his care is superb. The problem is my mum is so upset by this, and all their friends have stopped calling. I live 300 miles away and run and own a business. I am selling up to return home to help my mum but in the interim I can only get home every two weeks for a day and a half as if I do not work i don't get paid. My sister is at home and is a big help to mum and dad but she has a young family and also needs to work.
Sorry if this sounds all doom but I wondered how other people cope, at the minute I wake up feeling guilty as if I am failing my parents, and the bits in between I worry about what is happening. Dad has good and bad days but currently he thinks that we have left him and that we do not love him. My head tells me that this is his illness but my heart aches for him, are there thing that we can do to make him feel safer and more comfortable?
Any advice welcome, thanks in advance
Jacquie