Dementia or Forgetfulness

morganlefay

Lady E, you have my huge sympathy. My 94 yr old Ma fell and broke hip last year and the inevitable general anaesthetic turned a slightly forgetful and occasionally odd old lady living in her own flat quite happily into someone with severe dementia. We were ignored by social services (as she would have failed their means tests) and were given the bad news in a hurried 20 mins consultation that we had to beg for with the psychogeriatrician. Suddenly she went from being very proud and independent to a very disturbed person. She is now in a v nice Home for people with dementia and my sister and I are completely disillusioned by all the talk about how wonderful the support you get from Social Services (which in our case was one chivvying phone call wanting us to put her into a home we did not like because she was bed blocking in hospital). I have found the Alzheimers Soc quite wonderful because they understand everything that's going on and have people to suppport you, and others in the same boat as you. Suddenly finding your very grand and nice mother has become a child again, (mine once bit a nurse, and last week she threw her Zimmer at a nurse, but forgot to let go and sailed off with it, falling and bruising herself severely.) I very much hope that your MIL has one of these reversible conditions described above which can be remedied, but if is dementia you have a lot of learning to do very fast, and don't be too proud (as I was to start with) to ask for help. The law in Scotland is different from that in England about paying for care, I think, so explore that carefully. I very much hope that she gets back to her old self very soon, and has a long and healthy old age.