Hello
This is my first time talking to anyone other than friends about this and I am still at the stage of not really wanting to admit that this is happening to us. If you don't mind I will give you some background and I am sorry if it is a bit of a ramble but will give you some idea where we are at the moment.
About two years ago my husband who was 50 began driving to work in the wrong direction, not really a problem but was odd. When he was questioned he said he wanted to take a different route - he did arrive at work on time and so I didn't think too much about it at the time. Shortly after when I was watching him reversing out of the drive I noticed that he was not turning the wheel in the correct direction to where he wanted to go and could not seem to understand what he was doing. Around this time he started to experience problems at work (he had worked there 34 years) and he told me he was being bullied for not being able to do his job correctly and could not keep up but of course he did not know why. The company were very heavy handed and when he could not give them an explanation they put him on a disciplinary and at that point we went to the doctor who signed him off for 4 months with work related stress. This went on until last Christmas when he felt he had no alternative but to resign because he knew his work would push him out. We managed to find him another job with no stress and watched to see if his mood improved but unfortunately although he appeared to do the job ok he was finding it more and more difficult to get to work - he could no longer fill the vehicle up with petrol and people told me he was going around roundabouts the wrong way - he finally finished work on the 1 August. Meanwhile we were referred to a consultant who carried out a lumber puncture, CT, MRI, EEG and lots of blood tests. He also went for psychology tests at a specialist centre. We received the results back on Monday - everything is clear but they say he has degenerative brain disease and have referred him to another specialist centre where they are going to carry out a SPECT scan and possible he will have a brain biopsy. I really cant believe this is happening and have not really accepted that this is a dementia. He can no longer find rooms in the house and although seems ok in conversation, knows everyone he has great difficulty with directions. Sorry for the long post but I would be very grateful for any support as he is very frustrated and is anxious to get back to normal and it is very difficult to handle sometimes. Thank you for listening
This is my first time talking to anyone other than friends about this and I am still at the stage of not really wanting to admit that this is happening to us. If you don't mind I will give you some background and I am sorry if it is a bit of a ramble but will give you some idea where we are at the moment.
About two years ago my husband who was 50 began driving to work in the wrong direction, not really a problem but was odd. When he was questioned he said he wanted to take a different route - he did arrive at work on time and so I didn't think too much about it at the time. Shortly after when I was watching him reversing out of the drive I noticed that he was not turning the wheel in the correct direction to where he wanted to go and could not seem to understand what he was doing. Around this time he started to experience problems at work (he had worked there 34 years) and he told me he was being bullied for not being able to do his job correctly and could not keep up but of course he did not know why. The company were very heavy handed and when he could not give them an explanation they put him on a disciplinary and at that point we went to the doctor who signed him off for 4 months with work related stress. This went on until last Christmas when he felt he had no alternative but to resign because he knew his work would push him out. We managed to find him another job with no stress and watched to see if his mood improved but unfortunately although he appeared to do the job ok he was finding it more and more difficult to get to work - he could no longer fill the vehicle up with petrol and people told me he was going around roundabouts the wrong way - he finally finished work on the 1 August. Meanwhile we were referred to a consultant who carried out a lumber puncture, CT, MRI, EEG and lots of blood tests. He also went for psychology tests at a specialist centre. We received the results back on Monday - everything is clear but they say he has degenerative brain disease and have referred him to another specialist centre where they are going to carry out a SPECT scan and possible he will have a brain biopsy. I really cant believe this is happening and have not really accepted that this is a dementia. He can no longer find rooms in the house and although seems ok in conversation, knows everyone he has great difficulty with directions. Sorry for the long post but I would be very grateful for any support as he is very frustrated and is anxious to get back to normal and it is very difficult to handle sometimes. Thank you for listening