Monday 15th March
John and I got to mums at 11.30am, she was waiting by the door, she opened the front door and said the she thought that we weren't coming and she said 'I thought bugger 'em I'll go out'. Her appointment with Dr Asprey was at 2pm, I gave her a meal that I had taken over for her.
Micheal came over at 12.30pm and we sat talking while we had a cup of tea, Mum looked at him and asked him who he was, he told her he was her son and she well what's your name and when he told her it's Michael she said of course it is, she then said to him 'well who is your dad 'and he said 'your husband' she couldn't remember dads name, she knew who I was but not Teresa.
We got to her appointment in good time. Dr Asprey was really nice and I introduced her to Michael
she had a little talk with us and mum .. mum was confused. She has recommended Park Lodge Alzheimer's Society who would get in touch with me re: someone going into mum and spending about 2 hours with her doing things that she likes to do ie: baking, playing cards, looking at photo's visiting Garden Centres or anything else that she like doing, there is a small charge for this, but she was not sure how much it was .
Dr Asprey asked mum if there was anything that she wanted to ask her and of course she said No, She also asked Michael that, as it was the first time that he had been in with mum was there anything that he would like to ask her, he said that life must be very mundane for mum. Dr Asprey explained that mums mind does not function like his and that 2 hours activity is enough for her to cope with.
Dr Asprey asked mum if she was coping at home or would she rather go into a Residential Home, mum was confused about this, so I tried to explain to her what Dr Asprey meant she said that she wanted to stay at home
I signalled to Dr Asprey that it was difficult to talk while mum was there, so her Assistant took mum off to do some tests to see if there was any change in her condition. Michael got up and said that he would go with her but Dr Asprey told him to stay, as mum had to do the test on her own. Her new score was 10 out of 32 her score last time was 11, Dr Asprey explained that most people with that score are in a Residential Care Home.
While mum was out of the room I was able to tell Dr Asprey that a few weeks ago mum was really bad, much more confused, hallucinating, dressed in wrong clothes etc, she seems to think that mum has had another little vascular stroke or even infection, as she is prone to UTI's.
Micheal said that mum is different with him than she is with me and Dr Asprey said that is probably because she doesn't see him so often and said that because she sees me more often she will be more irritable with me and say what she thinks, but it is the illness not the real her.
She recommended that we go and start to look at Care Homes and put mums name down because they have lists and even if mums name comes up and she isn't ready to go, at least she will stay on the list for the future.
I told Dr Asprey that mum looks a lot better that she did a few weeks ago, I asked her if that was normal, she told me that sometimes they try and put on an act which makes them worse and then they stop trying, which in a way makes them better, she is pleased that mum goes out but said that when things get bad, people can try and find the house where they were born.. also they can do weird things like try and cut electricity wires! If they are just happy to sit then that is much better, we will have to see how things go.
She also explained that people can sometimes feel afraid at nights, which is how mum is at times, she did explain that when people go into a care home the hallucinations and hearing voices stop as they feel a lot safer, also there is more going on for them.
When we left she said that she would see mum again in 6 months time.
We took mum out for a cup of tea and cake on the way home which she enjoyed,
We got her home and I gave her medications to her..we left her munching away at her chocolates that she had been given for Mothers day
No comments:
Post a Comment