Hi there everyone. I am new to TP but have been a carer for a long time. Ray has had five strokes , the first aged 48 in 1990, he went back to work after six months of rehabilitation etc. Then he had two major strokes four weeks apart in 1999 which retired us, him from full time work, me from part-time work to take care of him. He has also had seizures and TIAs so life continues to be plagued with changes caused in part by his various illnesses.
He had another stroke in 2001 and another in 2005, that is when the vascular dementia became noticeable and we started on the dementia journey. As everyone here has experienced it is somewhat of a roller coaster ride.
Ray has mild to moderate dementia, confusion,slowness of action, loss of process thinking. His most common response to questions is: "I don't know" His usual method of passing time is find-a-word puzzles and he mostly sits down somewhere like our front verandah to do them.I find for me it is hard to seperate the stroke damage from the dementia symptoms but I can see signs of both.
Like the rest of you I feel isolated, frustrated by the illness and what it is doing to Ray and to my life also. I am saddened by his slowly disintegrating personality, our thrust into a premature "old age" and all the issues incurred like loss of friends, loss of financial security, opportunities for social activities etc.
We do cope from day-to-day. I manage his dementia as best I can and like the majority of you, I do feel some angst about life , the future and my ability to cope with what comes our way.
I also have a 90 year old Mum who has been in a Dementia Lodge for six years, before that she lived with Ray and I for two years. So I know what having a parent with dementia is like too.
We live on the East Coast of Australia about 50 miles north of Sydney in an area called the Central Coast. We have three grown up children and five grandchildren.
He had another stroke in 2001 and another in 2005, that is when the vascular dementia became noticeable and we started on the dementia journey. As everyone here has experienced it is somewhat of a roller coaster ride.
Ray has mild to moderate dementia, confusion,slowness of action, loss of process thinking. His most common response to questions is: "I don't know" His usual method of passing time is find-a-word puzzles and he mostly sits down somewhere like our front verandah to do them.I find for me it is hard to seperate the stroke damage from the dementia symptoms but I can see signs of both.
Like the rest of you I feel isolated, frustrated by the illness and what it is doing to Ray and to my life also. I am saddened by his slowly disintegrating personality, our thrust into a premature "old age" and all the issues incurred like loss of friends, loss of financial security, opportunities for social activities etc.
We do cope from day-to-day. I manage his dementia as best I can and like the majority of you, I do feel some angst about life , the future and my ability to cope with what comes our way.
I also have a 90 year old Mum who has been in a Dementia Lodge for six years, before that she lived with Ray and I for two years. So I know what having a parent with dementia is like too.
We live on the East Coast of Australia about 50 miles north of Sydney in an area called the Central Coast. We have three grown up children and five grandchildren.
