My husband has been ill for ten years, it has indeed been a learning experience, and a roller coaster. A testing time for families and friends.
We were told that he had Alzheimers.
I suppose the run in was he became a bit paranoid, then he became fixed on"The Universe", so we bought many books and maps of the Universe thinking that, that was an interest. At dinner with friends and strangers in the middle of a conversation he would suddenly say "What about the Universe" Friends who knew he was ill became very adept at turning the conversation around to Universal affairs, thus hiding the fact from strangers that it was an out of context remark. We were living abroad at that time and came back home four years ago.
He was allotted a specialist in Geriatric problems and I never thought to question why he was dealing with my husband. This year he has had two large epiletic fits and has been in hospital. The specialist always seemed unable to take my call, eventually I said to the secretary that I needed to find out if epitetic fits were normal.
She told me that the doctor in question was a geriatric psychiatrist.
I discovered whilst my husband was in hospital that he had vascular alzheimers, without any dementia .etc. So for four years we were seeing someone, who had not made that defination, and I would have been bettert with a neurologist!!!
I did find that to begin with friends are often reluctant to visit. Their favourite remark was "But - will he know me"? I would reply " NO - but you know who he is". We have now many friends visiting, even if they stay a short time. Reggie cannot speak now, but his face lights up when people appear, he most often does not know them, he scans their faces and if they are smiling, he picks up on an energy level that they are there for him - and that is enough.
Keep the humour going - black humour can be good. Laughter is infectious, and he understands that.
Can we sort out clearly - please the difference between vascular and dementia, so we all have an easier route for supplying the right care.
Bye for now - keep strong,
Dotty
We were told that he had Alzheimers.
I suppose the run in was he became a bit paranoid, then he became fixed on"The Universe", so we bought many books and maps of the Universe thinking that, that was an interest. At dinner with friends and strangers in the middle of a conversation he would suddenly say "What about the Universe" Friends who knew he was ill became very adept at turning the conversation around to Universal affairs, thus hiding the fact from strangers that it was an out of context remark. We were living abroad at that time and came back home four years ago.
He was allotted a specialist in Geriatric problems and I never thought to question why he was dealing with my husband. This year he has had two large epiletic fits and has been in hospital. The specialist always seemed unable to take my call, eventually I said to the secretary that I needed to find out if epitetic fits were normal.
She told me that the doctor in question was a geriatric psychiatrist.
I discovered whilst my husband was in hospital that he had vascular alzheimers, without any dementia .etc. So for four years we were seeing someone, who had not made that defination, and I would have been bettert with a neurologist!!!
I did find that to begin with friends are often reluctant to visit. Their favourite remark was "But - will he know me"? I would reply " NO - but you know who he is". We have now many friends visiting, even if they stay a short time. Reggie cannot speak now, but his face lights up when people appear, he most often does not know them, he scans their faces and if they are smiling, he picks up on an energy level that they are there for him - and that is enough.
Keep the humour going - black humour can be good. Laughter is infectious, and he understands that.
Can we sort out clearly - please the difference between vascular and dementia, so we all have an easier route for supplying the right care.
Bye for now - keep strong,
Dotty
