Last Sunday evening my lovely Mum reached the end of her dementia journey in her care home.
She had mixed dementia and had stopped eating and drinking about a week before, so the decline was sadly inevitable.
I was able to see her before she died, but mixed messages from the care home meant that later on we couldn't go into her room but had several window visits with the staff doing their best to position her bed so that we could see her. She was generally peacefully asleep by then.
For those of you with loved ones in homes, I hope the situation around visiting advice is clarified and the access improves. I was lucky to have spent a lot of time with Mummy before lockdown, and whilst this does not always make things easier, there was at least part of the journey of the disease where I was there with her. We will all miss her a great deal.
I have to say, for anyone who may need to hear this, that our experience of care home care as almost always positive. The staff were kind and caring and really got to know Mummy. It is a tribute to them that when she declined, and stopped attacking them during personal care, they even missed this, as they realised we were losing her.
Finally, I hope to keep on reading and posting, though I read a lot more than I post. It is a kind of therapy for me. Thank you to everyone for their advice support and for the feeling of not being alone.
Dementia is the worst journey ever. We all hope we never have to experience it for ourselves and for our loved ones. If we do, we couldn't want for better companions than those on this forum.
Thank you.
She had mixed dementia and had stopped eating and drinking about a week before, so the decline was sadly inevitable.
I was able to see her before she died, but mixed messages from the care home meant that later on we couldn't go into her room but had several window visits with the staff doing their best to position her bed so that we could see her. She was generally peacefully asleep by then.
For those of you with loved ones in homes, I hope the situation around visiting advice is clarified and the access improves. I was lucky to have spent a lot of time with Mummy before lockdown, and whilst this does not always make things easier, there was at least part of the journey of the disease where I was there with her. We will all miss her a great deal.
I have to say, for anyone who may need to hear this, that our experience of care home care as almost always positive. The staff were kind and caring and really got to know Mummy. It is a tribute to them that when she declined, and stopped attacking them during personal care, they even missed this, as they realised we were losing her.
Finally, I hope to keep on reading and posting, though I read a lot more than I post. It is a kind of therapy for me. Thank you to everyone for their advice support and for the feeling of not being alone.
Dementia is the worst journey ever. We all hope we never have to experience it for ourselves and for our loved ones. If we do, we couldn't want for better companions than those on this forum.
Thank you.
