Ok, so I'm scarily new to the surreal and upsetting world of dementia and have a lot to get up to speed on. I wondered if I could mention something about Mum and get your views as to whether this is typical or not? We're still waiting any specific diagnosis for her - at the moment it's just an umbrella 'dementia' diagnosis and I wondered if this is perhaps particularly typical of one type than another?...
Mum has good and bad days - some she's lucid for maybe 70% of our conversation, other times it's perhaps only 20 or 30%. But the one thing that seems fairly constant (even when she's conversing lucidly) is that she always thinks she's somewhere she's not. That can range from being on a train that's been stranded in the snow for 4 days, to an office that she used to work in, her old friend's house (who she's not been in touch with for years) - and yesterday it was a police station in Edinburgh where she thought she was working. She talks about it very matter of factly, and as I say it's very rare that she clearly and soundly acknowledges she's in hospital.
These 'other locations' do mingle with reality though. On Wednesday she was telling me that she almost didn't come in to work that day, as there's very little for her to do. But she thought she should make the effort as the Doctor would be in today. Which was true - her Consultant does rounds on a Wednesday. So it's not all completely made up.
Does this sound typical of a PWD? Is it more typical of one type of dementia than another? I'm not sure why I'm asking really - I'm just wondering if this is something we should be particularly worried about. I do wonder if this might be why the hospital keep saying that she could be a 'wander risk'. After all, if she goes home and thinks she's elsewhere - will she leave the house to 'go home'?
Any views much appreciated, thanks in advance.
Mum has good and bad days - some she's lucid for maybe 70% of our conversation, other times it's perhaps only 20 or 30%. But the one thing that seems fairly constant (even when she's conversing lucidly) is that she always thinks she's somewhere she's not. That can range from being on a train that's been stranded in the snow for 4 days, to an office that she used to work in, her old friend's house (who she's not been in touch with for years) - and yesterday it was a police station in Edinburgh where she thought she was working. She talks about it very matter of factly, and as I say it's very rare that she clearly and soundly acknowledges she's in hospital.
These 'other locations' do mingle with reality though. On Wednesday she was telling me that she almost didn't come in to work that day, as there's very little for her to do. But she thought she should make the effort as the Doctor would be in today. Which was true - her Consultant does rounds on a Wednesday. So it's not all completely made up.
Does this sound typical of a PWD? Is it more typical of one type of dementia than another? I'm not sure why I'm asking really - I'm just wondering if this is something we should be particularly worried about. I do wonder if this might be why the hospital keep saying that she could be a 'wander risk'. After all, if she goes home and thinks she's elsewhere - will she leave the house to 'go home'?
Any views much appreciated, thanks in advance.