I won’t put up much of an OP here. Suffice to say that during the weekend I went and saw my gran who recently (most likely) had a stroke and (probably) has now got vascular dementia as well.
When I went to see her with my brother she was basiaclly insane. She recognised us both at least but everything she said was crazy*. Even so, interestingly, she still had her Linctus ™ grin and everything was kind of nice, and while it might just be my wishful thinking we connected on a visual level.
Assuming no deterioration I won’t be seeing her again for around six weeks but want to hear some tips - especially from relatives. I have actually some experience in talking to demented people from a caring POV but when it’s an immediate relative it’s suddenly totally different and much harder than you think. At various times I was on both the brink of crazy laughter (actually I did chuckle at times) and yet also at other times tears.
Whadda you lot know?
*I know a little bit about neurology from oliver sacks books and the lack and I deffo noticed some confabulation. For example I asked her about her lunch, and the first statement was that it was very nice. Then I asked her about what it was she had specifically that day and she said she had ice cream five times a week. In other words probably covering up that she had no idea what she had had. But then the loony stuff like the indoor window frosting up during the night (the NHS ain’t that bad :D), my aunt living on the hosptial grounds, my dad walking around (while a couple of hundred miles away) playing the bagpipes with a novelty hat… not so good… She also asked what school my brother was going to now (my 22 year old brother) - for a laugh at this point I said “Gordonston” and she at least knew that Prince Charles and Prince Phillip had been there. Sadly she didn’t seem to get that there was no way at all Simpler Linctus could possibly there.