Update

I’ve finally got to the bottom of why Mum is distressed after the hairdresser has been.  We think that she believes she has actually gone to a hairdressing salon and she is sitting waiting for me to collect her.   She is getting agitated when Denise has left and a long time passes before I get home.   I have decided I need to be here from now on when she has her hair done.

We stayed in most of the Jubilee Holiday watching events on the TV which Mum did seem to enjoy to a certain extent.  However whilst watching the flotilla on the Thames, she got rather agitated and she seemed to think she was actually on the Queen’s barge.  Said she was very cold and wanted to get off!

A couple of funny anecdotes:

-Mum suddenly told me the other day that I could easily pass for 32.  (I am 63!)  I pointed out that my daughter is 33 but that didn’t seem to have any significance!

-My son, Ben, came over for the day recently and we were sitting ‘chatting’ to Mum when she suddenly gave a big sigh and said “Oh – c’est une voyage!” quite clearly.

I have known for some time that she doesn’t really follow TV programmes any longer, even ones she used to love such as Coronation St.  Indeed, the main problem as I have previously mentioned is that she thinks the programmes are actually part of her life and talks to the characters on the screen then wonders why they don’t reply.  However the other day the ad break came on and Mum was really confused.  When I tried to explain that it was the adverts, she really didn’t understand what they were!

If only we could see the world through the eyes of a dementia sufferer.  I told her this morning that she’d left her toast in the kitchen to which she replied, “I haven’t, it’s here” and patted the arm of the chair to point it out.  Then later when I brought her a cup of coffee she lifted an imaginary cup of coffee to her mouth.  She’s done that before but it’s very spooky.  Why can she see things that aren’t there and not see things that are there?

The sundowners continue to get worse.  I feel I can never really have a relaxed evening any longer as Mum is constantly fidgeting or wandering around the flat with no purpose.  Then she continually asks me questions that don’t make any sense.  Sometimes, if she disappears, I have to check what she’s up to as one of her latest obsessions is changing her clothes.  She’s just done it now, while I’m writing this, and she came back in the room with her trousers inside out!

But the worst part of the sundowners is the crying.  It’s distressing for her and also for me.  I have taken her to the GP about this and he increased her anti-depressant dose but it made no difference.  He thinks it’s an inherent part of her illness – great!   When I ask her why she’s crying she usually doesn’t know but sometimes says she’s frightened but doesn’t know what of.

She continues to not enjoy the Day Centre.  She came in yesterday and burst into tears.  When I asked her what what was wrong she said “If you’d had a day like I’ve had, you’d cry!”  She started to tell me some convoluted tale about the second world war and Belsen concentration camp, and how frightened she was.  Someone stroked her hand but she knew that was the secret signal!

I was so worried I actually rang the Day Centre.  I spoke to the Officer in Charge who couldn’t understand where it had come from.  She said they’d had a quiz in the afternoon as they often do and Mum had seemed fine, in fact she actually had a laugh with her whilst Mum was waiting for the bus.  She told me the problem is that Mum probably won’t tell them when she’s frightened but she will keep an eye on her as she has noticed that she is deteriorating.

Happy days!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evening Shenanigans!

Mum started to go weird yesterday evening.  She has got into the habit of being incredibly restless after about 7pm.  She’s up and down but doesn’t know where she wants to go.  She rarely settles to watch anything on TV nowadays and has started to get ready for bed as early as 8.30.  I try to discourage this as the earlier she goes to bed the earlier she’s up the next day.

She disappeared for a while at 9pm and when I went to check on her, she was changing her clothes.  Seemed to think she was going somewhere.  When I suggested she get into her dressing gown, she told me she wasn’t getting undressed for bed.  I said she couldn’t sleep in her clothes but she got quite argumentative and insisted it was okay to sleep fully dressed.  I asked her if she’d get undressed ‘to humour me’ which she did eventually with alot of sighing.

She got up for the bathroom at least 6 times in the night, once with an interval only 10 mins between visits.  I think it must just be a habit that when she is half-awake, she presumes she has to visit the bathroom.

Also had the lights and lamps episode at 3.30 am.

I’m a bit tired today!

 

Day Centre

Mum went to the Day Centre as usual today and came home exhausted as usual.

She seems so tired that she goes beyond sleep.  She spends all evening chatting away to herself or anyone who will listen, not expecting a reply.  Also, she can’t settle at all.  She’s up and down out of her chair, forgetting where she was going as soon as she stands up.

She has three pairs of slippers and she was up and down changing her slippers constantly, usually coming back wearing odd ones.

She finally went to bed at 9.15 and I breathed a sigh of relief.

 

Two Socks on Two Feet

I don’t know about two socks on one foot, today it was two socks on two feet.  I noticed that Mum had the same socks on as yesterday and when I pointed it out and asked her to change them, she started to take them off and I noticed she had another clean pair on underneath!

Getting dressed is becoming a slight issue nowadays.  Mum seems to get out nearly every item in her wardrobe (including underwear) before she decides what to put on.  She doesn’t know when to hang things back up and when to put them to the wash so I now have to keep a close eye on her clothing.

We also have a situation known to the family as “Bra-gate”!  She is having difficulty doing up her bra so decided she needed to send for a new one from a catalogue.  It didn’t matter how many times I explained that getting a new bra wouldn’t help her with the fastening, she insisted.  When the bra arrived, she couldn’t do it up and got into quite a state about it.  We have tried to persuade her to order a front fastener but she is adamant she has tried these and doesn’t like them.  It must be on her mind so much that the other night, she got undressed and sat in her dressing gown for a while then went to bed.  She came back a few minutes later really upset because she couldn’t do her bra up – she was trying to get dressed again!

Mum is also currently obsessed with a medical book she’s had for years – Signs and Symptoms, a guide to early self-diagnosis.  I often come in the room to find her leafing through this book, usually looking up ‘dementia’.  Good job she doesn’t know how to use the internet!