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Adventures with dementia

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Posted on 9th August 2012.

In our search for interesting material to share with you on this website, we occasionally come across something which really makes us stop and think. It may be a newspaper article, a website or even a poem written by somebody who has the ability to cut through all of the noise which surrounds care.  In this particular case, it’s a blog written by the husband of a woman who first attended a memory clinic in 2000 aged 52.

Helping Hands has no connection to the gentlemen who wrote this, we don’t even know for sure who is.  But we’re sure that for families of our customers living with dementia his words will make a lot of sense.

Here are some extracts from his blogs:

“Are people with dementia capable of learning? Despite the fact that it’s often stated that they can’t, my own experience tells me different. During the course of S’s illness she has had to adapt to all sorts of changes. Sometimes, this has proved more difficult than at other times, but new learning has certainly taken place.

“My wife has a ‘condition’. Many people who have to have labels would say she has dementia. She first attended a memory clinic in 2000, aged 52, and has suffered a marked decline recently.”

“We have been trying to follow the advice of our Guru: ‘Live a Good Life’. It’s not easy but there doesn’t seem to be any better advice around.”

“Once we started attending events and sessions organised for people with dementia, we’ve got to know a fair few of the people that turn up regularly at the same places as us. One of them recently disappeared from view. It turned out that she had been living with the family of one of her children and has now, for reasons unknown, gone into a care home or possibly into sheltered accommodation.  Now this woman, and I’ve had the opportunity to observe her in various settings, does not come across as anything other than pretty old and a bit confused. She can hold perfectly sensible conversations and take part in all sorts of activities – singing, dancing, playing musical instruments, playing board games, etc.

“I know there is an argument that it is best for people to move into care sooner rather than later as they are more likely to be able to adjust and be contented. But I can see no reason why it is necessary for them to immediately drop all their usual activities, and have no further contact with friends and acquaintances they may have known for years.”

You can find his blog at http://www.adventureswithdementia.blogspot.co.uk

Sally Tomkotowicz