Hi folks, just felt I wanted to post a message about my father who is entering the last act of his dementia journey. I can hardly believe the transformation in just two months. In march of this year, we was still moderately active for an 82 year old. When I visited him just last month he had the unmistakable dementia shuffle and now this weekend he can barely stand.
He has been receiving medication for DVT and also some meds to try and help him sleep at night as he has a tendency to wake up after an hour or so and think its time to get up. Sunday morning, for the first time he fell from the edge of the bed to the floor and was also incontinent. Thankfully my mum now has carers coming in three days a week for a couple of hours to give her some respite, but I can't help feel my fathers rapid decline may well be more than just dementia. His brother died two year ago from renal failure and this seems to be a thread that runs through the family so am wondering if the recent rapid decline might also be linked to some kind of renal issues. Living 150 miles away, my visits are every 4 weeks and my sis every other week, but I can't help feel he's now reached the palliative phase and we should do our utmost to make sure he's as comfortable as possible so he can leave this world with as much dignity as possible.
He has been receiving medication for DVT and also some meds to try and help him sleep at night as he has a tendency to wake up after an hour or so and think its time to get up. Sunday morning, for the first time he fell from the edge of the bed to the floor and was also incontinent. Thankfully my mum now has carers coming in three days a week for a couple of hours to give her some respite, but I can't help feel my fathers rapid decline may well be more than just dementia. His brother died two year ago from renal failure and this seems to be a thread that runs through the family so am wondering if the recent rapid decline might also be linked to some kind of renal issues. Living 150 miles away, my visits are every 4 weeks and my sis every other week, but I can't help feel he's now reached the palliative phase and we should do our utmost to make sure he's as comfortable as possible so he can leave this world with as much dignity as possible.