Hi everyone,
I joined the forum recently but Iāve been a reader since the spring of 2020. I have been primary carer for my mum for just over four years. She has mixed Alzheimerās and vascular dementia, first diagnosed in 2019. I looked after her at her own home for about three years. She now lives in a nursing home.
Iāve learnt a lot by reading messages from people who have shared their knowledge and experience here. This forum has helped me through some dark times in the past few years. Iāve decided to start my own thread about my mum and myself. I hope it may help me through future days. It will also give me a record of how things are changing as time passes. This first post is quite long as Iād like to start with a few brief details about my mumās history.
My mum was born in a coal mining town in South Wales in 1933. She grew up there and she is very proud of her Welsh heritage. At age 16 she started training to become a nurse. In her early twenties she lived at Benenden Sanatorium in Kent for a while, where she was nursing people with tuberculosis. She still remembers giving streptomycin injections. She later worked as a nurse for many years. I remember her going out to work night shifts when I was a child.
My mum married my dad in 1957. They were pen pals while she was working in Benenden and my dad was sailing around the world working on a cruise ship. I have no idea how long it took for their letters to reach each other! Sadly my dad died very suddenly in 1987 aged 56. My mum suffered with intense grief for several months. Since my dad died I have tried to support my mum whenever she needed help, especially when she had problems with her health. We have had a very close relationship for many years.
My mum is mother to five children, with me as the eldest. She is grandmother to nine and great grandmother to two.
My mum likes singing - a lot! She learnt to sing at chapel when she was growing up in Wales. She still remembers the name of the man who she says ātaught her to sing properlyā. She knows the words of lots of songs, though sometimes she now needs help with the first couple of lines. I am often surprised when she sings a song I never realised she knew. She has learnt a lot of new songs since she moved into a nursing home - something I never thought possible. She also likes watching clips from old musical films. She sings along to the songs and is in a happy place for a while.
Whenever my mum is asked what she likes doing she usually says singing, or if not that then she says āhelping peopleā. She often talks to other residents at the nursing home and asks if they are ok. I think she sometimes believes she is working at the home as a nurse. A lot of her anxiety is driven by worries about other people, both real and imagined.
Ok, time to end my first post in this thread. Iām not sure how often I will write here, or even what I will write about. I am sure I will have plenty of source material!
Sending thoughts and best wishes to everyone.
I joined the forum recently but Iāve been a reader since the spring of 2020. I have been primary carer for my mum for just over four years. She has mixed Alzheimerās and vascular dementia, first diagnosed in 2019. I looked after her at her own home for about three years. She now lives in a nursing home.
Iāve learnt a lot by reading messages from people who have shared their knowledge and experience here. This forum has helped me through some dark times in the past few years. Iāve decided to start my own thread about my mum and myself. I hope it may help me through future days. It will also give me a record of how things are changing as time passes. This first post is quite long as Iād like to start with a few brief details about my mumās history.
My mum was born in a coal mining town in South Wales in 1933. She grew up there and she is very proud of her Welsh heritage. At age 16 she started training to become a nurse. In her early twenties she lived at Benenden Sanatorium in Kent for a while, where she was nursing people with tuberculosis. She still remembers giving streptomycin injections. She later worked as a nurse for many years. I remember her going out to work night shifts when I was a child.
My mum married my dad in 1957. They were pen pals while she was working in Benenden and my dad was sailing around the world working on a cruise ship. I have no idea how long it took for their letters to reach each other! Sadly my dad died very suddenly in 1987 aged 56. My mum suffered with intense grief for several months. Since my dad died I have tried to support my mum whenever she needed help, especially when she had problems with her health. We have had a very close relationship for many years.
My mum is mother to five children, with me as the eldest. She is grandmother to nine and great grandmother to two.
My mum likes singing - a lot! She learnt to sing at chapel when she was growing up in Wales. She still remembers the name of the man who she says ātaught her to sing properlyā. She knows the words of lots of songs, though sometimes she now needs help with the first couple of lines. I am often surprised when she sings a song I never realised she knew. She has learnt a lot of new songs since she moved into a nursing home - something I never thought possible. She also likes watching clips from old musical films. She sings along to the songs and is in a happy place for a while.
Whenever my mum is asked what she likes doing she usually says singing, or if not that then she says āhelping peopleā. She often talks to other residents at the nursing home and asks if they are ok. I think she sometimes believes she is working at the home as a nurse. A lot of her anxiety is driven by worries about other people, both real and imagined.
Ok, time to end my first post in this thread. Iām not sure how often I will write here, or even what I will write about. I am sure I will have plenty of source material!
Sending thoughts and best wishes to everyone.
