Please advise me!
Mum seems to be declining more quickly than I expected, but then, I don’t know why I expected anything. Mum never agreed to tests, we have no proper diagnosis, and therefore, I don’t know what type of dementia she has, or what the progression is likely to be.
Here’s the situation. She’s struggling with vocabulary now, she knows that she knows me, but can’t believe I’m her daughter. She can’t even make herself a coffee and is totally reliant on me and my husband for most things. Her memory span is less than a minute, as far as conversation goes. She gets very cross very easily and over very little, but usually, it's soon forgotten. She lives alone but in the next village to me, with her little dog (who is very patient, and very fat ...)
Here is the question. For the last few weeks, most food we give her seems to make her cough, even cereal softened in milk. This isn’t all the time, sometimes she manages better than others, but even scrambled egg can sometimes set her off. She can manage soup – but if it’s a bit too warm, that can make her cough too. Yesterday was a wake-up call for me, as I gave her some lasagne with most of the pasta taken out so as not to overface her and the coughing fit ended in her retching into the dog bowl until the coughing subsided - sorry for th detail, but I thought the severity of the reaction was relevant. Is this the dementia affecting her ability to swallow? Is it something else? And, what can I give her to eat? Should I persevere or just resort to soups? She used to love yogurts, but now looks you as if you have lost your mind if you offer one and claims she NEVER liked those. If I stick to soups, how long before she gets totally bored of those? How boring must it be to only eat soft food? What would you do?
Please tell me what you think. Also, she’s 87 and has chronic kidney disease, I don’t know if this is having any effect on the situation and getting information from doctors is very difficult, I feel a bit on my own and in the dark.
Mum seems to be declining more quickly than I expected, but then, I don’t know why I expected anything. Mum never agreed to tests, we have no proper diagnosis, and therefore, I don’t know what type of dementia she has, or what the progression is likely to be.
Here’s the situation. She’s struggling with vocabulary now, she knows that she knows me, but can’t believe I’m her daughter. She can’t even make herself a coffee and is totally reliant on me and my husband for most things. Her memory span is less than a minute, as far as conversation goes. She gets very cross very easily and over very little, but usually, it's soon forgotten. She lives alone but in the next village to me, with her little dog (who is very patient, and very fat ...)
Here is the question. For the last few weeks, most food we give her seems to make her cough, even cereal softened in milk. This isn’t all the time, sometimes she manages better than others, but even scrambled egg can sometimes set her off. She can manage soup – but if it’s a bit too warm, that can make her cough too. Yesterday was a wake-up call for me, as I gave her some lasagne with most of the pasta taken out so as not to overface her and the coughing fit ended in her retching into the dog bowl until the coughing subsided - sorry for th detail, but I thought the severity of the reaction was relevant. Is this the dementia affecting her ability to swallow? Is it something else? And, what can I give her to eat? Should I persevere or just resort to soups? She used to love yogurts, but now looks you as if you have lost your mind if you offer one and claims she NEVER liked those. If I stick to soups, how long before she gets totally bored of those? How boring must it be to only eat soft food? What would you do?
Please tell me what you think. Also, she’s 87 and has chronic kidney disease, I don’t know if this is having any effect on the situation and getting information from doctors is very difficult, I feel a bit on my own and in the dark.