Trouble using the phone

[Linbrusco]

Mum who always liked nothing better to phone friends and family and talk for hours, has slowly in the past year phoned people less and less.
It was always Mum that answered the phone, and brought up the no on the phone handset for Dad to ring his family in UK.
The last 3 days I have come to the conclusion ( when Dad was answering the phone more) that Mum is forgetting/has forgotten what button to press to talk on the cordless phone witnessing it tonight when I was over and my brother called.
She was pressing every button except the Green Talk button.

I have reprogrammed the settings so that when Mum picks the phone up from the cradle that you can talk straight away without pressing anything.... except the Red End button.
Wondering if she will remember that

 

[Raggedrobin]

Sadly this is very common and in time she may forget how to used the phone at all but good luck with your new method. there are also special phones that are easier to use I believe.
My mum just tried to make phone calls on the tv remote, and tries to use the phone to change tv channels...

 

[marionq]

Sadly this is very common and in time she may forget how to used the phone at all but good luck with your new method. there are also special phones that are easier to use I believe.
My mum just tried to make phone calls on the tv remote, and tries to use the phone to change tv channels...

I wonder how many dementia patients all over the world are talking into TV remote controls right now and wondering why no one is answering!

 

[Spamar]

OH hasn't used the phone for years, no idea how to make a call. BUT yesterday in the midst of a crisis ( I lost all my keys!) he answered the phone! I'm gobsmacked. I only found out because the person who called came around later. He didn't tell me., of course and, as he answered, no message left.
I did wonder why the phone was beeping......

 

[Tin]

My mum can still answer the phone, but can no longer dial a number, she just picks up hand set and asks to be contacted to her son. Sometimes she randomly touches a few keys, and sometimes get through to some poor devil [usually at 2a.m]. not happened recently. She has a 'dummy' phone next to her bed now, it makes life easier for me and no mis dials.

 

[Pickles53]

Sadly this is very common and in time she may forget how to used the phone at all but good luck with your new method. there are also special phones that are easier to use I believe.
My mum just tried to make phone calls on the tv remote, and tries to use the phone to change tv channels...

Been there, done that ....

 

[lulubel]

My mum managed to change the batteries in the phone, because it wasn't changing the channels on the TV!!

 

[CJinUSA]

Mum who always liked nothing better to phone friends and family and talk for hours, has slowly in the past year phoned people less and less.
It was always Mum that answered the phone, and brought up the no on the phone handset for Dad to ring his family in UK.
The last 3 days I have come to the conclusion ( when Dad was answering the phone more) that Mum is forgetting/has forgotten what button to press to talk on the cordless phone witnessing it tonight when I was over and my brother called.
She was pressing every button except the Green Talk button.

I have reprogrammed the settings so that when Mum picks the phone up from the cradle that you can talk straight away without pressing anything.... except the Red End button.
Wondering if she will remember that

The flip-open phones still sort of work okay for my mother. To answer the call, she flips the phone open (but forgets to say "hello"!), and she knows that if she flips it closed, that is hanging it up. They make some very night flip phones suitable for older folks who tend to like bigger buttons and backlit keypads. This works pretty well for my mother. She no longer can handle phone calls, though, and I have had to ask my sisters not to call in but rather to wait till she calls them. That way, she is more in control and doesn't say she can't hear them (which is really saying she doesn't understand what they are saying).