Comments for My Dementia Journey

Comment on Blog 30: This is my Life Slipping Away by Fay

Fay — Sat, 01 Mar 2014 02:53:07 +0000

Hello Nancy,
How lovely to hear from you. It’s a while since I’ve looked for comments. I know a few are still reading, but I didn’t think tha anyone was commenting any more. So, it’s brought a smile to my face to read your comment above, posted on 13/01/2014. Thank you for it,

Fay

Comment on Blog 30: This is my Life Slipping Away by Nancy

Nancy — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 11:31:05 +0000

Dear Fay,
Reading this brought back memories of my visit to you and Bill a few months before Bill died. You put on a cheerful face and I”m sure that Bill was reassured in the love you showed him.. I had to laugh (forgive me) on reading how Bill said grace at the table one day, and I also cried when I pictured Bill calling out his name at the top of his voice. It was a long hard road that you both travelled.
With love, Nancy

Comment on Blog 34: Incontinence by Fay

Fay — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 10:41:18 +0000

I agree, Dave, and most of us would prefer to keep our loved-ones at home with us. Sometimes, though, as you well know, things don’t work out and those loved-ones just have to be institutionalised. But, from what I can gather, it’s not all as bad as we fear it might be. It seems loved-ones do settle down eventually in their respective care facilities, that partners often manage to visit most days and life goes on. Barbara Davies gives us some insight into this very situation in her comment at Blog 30. Thank you Barbara.

Comment on Blog 34: Incontinence by Dave

Dave — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 08:09:11 +0000

Certainly benefits in not being in a care facility …

Comment on Blog 32: ACAT, HACC and EACHD to boot by Fay

Fay — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 07:18:41 +0000

As we go through life, we all come across these languages that various professions create by using acronyms. The Department of Health is no different to any other. I have read that this occurs because it allows people on the inner circle to feel superior to those who are shut out. But I don’t think that that is the case. I think people do it to save time. It is easier to say one word rather than four, e.g., “radar” rather than “radio detection and ranging”.

But I do think that, when we first started learning about computers, those in the know had a lot of fun with we novices as they talked about the “mouse” and “rams” and “bytes”. That language that grew up around computers made the Department of Health’s efforts seem paltry.

Comment on Blog 30: This is my Life Slipping Away by Fay

Fay — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 07:12:14 +0000

Yes, Bill was lucky, Nola, wasn’t he, in that, all the time that he was ill, there were always family members and friends around who cared for him.
In her book, “Who will I be when I die?” Christine Bryden describes that feeling of losing herself with these words:
“I am scared of the prospect of eventually not recognising my surroundings and not knowing who my girls are, or being able to recognise my friends. Surely that will be a lonely and frightening place to be.”
But 16 years later her friends and family and her God are still there for her.
I think that those with dementia who have family and friends that stick by them to the end do not really descend into that “lonely and frightening place” that Christine envisaged. They still remain connected, in no small part, I believe, because those familiar family members and friends are always making efforts to connect to them.

Comment on Blog 31: Are we there yet? by Fay

Fay — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 04:41:20 +0000

As I remember it, David, with Bill it was not so much a matter of “Frequency V Infrequency” or “Liked hobby V Not-so-liked chore”. Certainly, Bill’s ability to drive stayed with him for a lot longer time than did any of those competencies that he had learnt in the classroom like reading and measuring and and handling money, which disappeared very early on. It has been suggested to me by a friend who worked in Health as a Paramedic, that this is because there is a large component of automatic response in driving that is not present in the act of measuring, for example. So, with Bill it was more “Activity incorporating automatic response V Activity that demands active brain input from start to finish.”
You might argue that reading is fairly automatic, but it is not because of the work that the brain must do, from start to finish, comprehending that which is being read. It is the same with all of those activities. You cannot write a cheque without complete and absorbed concentration. Similarly, you cannot read a map or write a sentence without focussing fully on the activity for its entire length. And Bill lost all those abilities very early on. But driving stayed with him for longer because the brain can be singing a song while that activity is being undertaken.

Comment on Blog 31: Are we there yet? by Fay

Fay — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 03:46:35 +0000

I think it was, Charmaine. When I made that decision to call a cab, I had expected much more of a fight from Bill. But, to my complete surprise, there was next to no opposition at all. You wouldn’t know what was going on in Bill’s brain at the time but I myself believe that he was pretty relieved not to be in charge of driving any more.

Comment on Blog 31: Are we there yet? by Fay

Fay — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 07:28:46 +0000

Sue Pieters-Hawke (Hazel’s Journey) tells us that Hazel’s driving history after her Alzheimer’s diagnosis was similar to Bill’s in that Hazel sometimes became lost in familiar territory, that she soon found herself restricting her driving to her own suburb, that she rejected suggestions from family and friends that she cease driving, and that she eventually did give it up.
As far as I can tell from Internet research, neither Hazel nor Bill were breaking the law by continuing to drive as they did.
In “Hazel’s Journey”, Sue reports that: “Mum famously said in her ‘Australian Story’ program that she was forced to give up her licence because of the diagnosis — that this was simply the law. That’s not correct,” Sue explains. “It’s a confusion that Mum picked up somewhere along the way. However,” she goes on to say, “Alzheimers Australia does recommend that driving cease fairly early on in the disease.”
There seems to be no hard and fast rules about this matter for those living in Australia. Perhaps this is an area that we need to look into.

Comment on Blog 31: Are we there yet? by Dave

Dave — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 07:33:06 +0000

I wonder at what rate you might lose ability in doing things you did a lot of versus those you didn’t do a lot and likewise, those you liked (hobby) or those you had to do (chore)? Is there a logic to that when it comes to Vascular Dementia?

Quite a slope of lawn to be unsure of handling a lawn mower.