As a newbie in this forum, I've been getting the benefit of all your shared experiences for a while and thought I should pop up and say "Hi" to you all.
Our loved one is my Hubby's Mum. she was only formally diagnosed in June this year but that's more to do with delay on the part of her late husband in contacting the doctors than because her symptoms are mild. Having read a bit around Alzheimer's I would say she is about moderate stage, we are just having problems now with how to get her to change her clothes each day, but she is still continent and very able physically despite being 84!
Myself and Hubby live a good distance away from Mum who is 40 miles away. Her son (my brother in law) lives with her and he is at work all day, but prepares her meals before and after work etc. We keep an eye on her from afar using technology and phone etc. It's working (just about) currently but of course we know this will change and possibly soon. After Dad in law died in september, it became very apparent how much of a problem Mum was having. He was a very proud man, fiercely independent and wouldn't accept help from anyone literally until the last week of his life (when he was unaware what was happening). We had NO idea she had Alzheimers. He had told us it was age related memory loss. And to be fair, as we only visited and didn't see what he reminded her to do, we just didn't see it as beyond that. He wouldn't have let us try to help as he would have seen it as interference. So, once he passed away in September, we had to take Mum to the doctors to see what was going on. That's when the Doctor blurted out, "oh well, of course it's Alzheimers." Fortunately Mum, initially horrified, forget immediately on leaving the doctor's office..I see from your stories that there are many difficult and tragic sides to Alzheimer's.
So, here we are, just wanted to pop up and say thanks for sharing your stories. This is a little bit of ours.
x
Our loved one is my Hubby's Mum. she was only formally diagnosed in June this year but that's more to do with delay on the part of her late husband in contacting the doctors than because her symptoms are mild. Having read a bit around Alzheimer's I would say she is about moderate stage, we are just having problems now with how to get her to change her clothes each day, but she is still continent and very able physically despite being 84!
Myself and Hubby live a good distance away from Mum who is 40 miles away. Her son (my brother in law) lives with her and he is at work all day, but prepares her meals before and after work etc. We keep an eye on her from afar using technology and phone etc. It's working (just about) currently but of course we know this will change and possibly soon. After Dad in law died in september, it became very apparent how much of a problem Mum was having. He was a very proud man, fiercely independent and wouldn't accept help from anyone literally until the last week of his life (when he was unaware what was happening). We had NO idea she had Alzheimers. He had told us it was age related memory loss. And to be fair, as we only visited and didn't see what he reminded her to do, we just didn't see it as beyond that. He wouldn't have let us try to help as he would have seen it as interference. So, once he passed away in September, we had to take Mum to the doctors to see what was going on. That's when the Doctor blurted out, "oh well, of course it's Alzheimers." Fortunately Mum, initially horrified, forget immediately on leaving the doctor's office..I see from your stories that there are many difficult and tragic sides to Alzheimer's.
So, here we are, just wanted to pop up and say thanks for sharing your stories. This is a little bit of ours.
x
