My Story

My Mum

Written by Chris3801

My Mum was diagnosed with Alzheimers Disease about 3 years ago.
She has deteriorated to the point where she has started to wander, & is a danger to herself, especially in the kitchen. My Dad is her carer, & he's doing a great job, but is very tired, & battles sometimes to keep it all together.
Dad is frail physically, & is doing a great job, but it is so distressing to sit by & watch. He is very reluctant to take any help, & Mum is happy in herself, & doesn't consider she has a "bad" problem!
Just recently, I organised ACA for them both, & as a result, they have an ACAP in place. This entitles them to use about 7 hours per week - shopping, personal care, housework & respite.
Dad doesn't really want any help, but does realise that it's all getting a bit much for him.
Mum agreed to go to a dayclub once a week, & also to respite if it would make life easier for Dad. Mind you, the next day she denied saying it, & couldn't work out why she had to go anywhere!
Well today she had her first day. She was really anti- going last night, & went off, rather unhappily this morning. Dad was lost without her there, & I think it will take some time for him to get used to the idea.
She has no recall of the day's activities, & laughingly says that it must have been okay, because she'd remember if anything bad had happened!! LOL
So we'll potter on, hopefully they'll settle into more of a routine as time goes by.
Phone conversations are quite bizarre now, Mum talks, but it's all empty conversation. Nothing really makes sense, but she's happy to prattle on, & I will not be the one to tell her that she's talking nonsense.
It's hard though, our roles have reversed totally now.