Support is now available!!!

Following my slightly distraught phone call to the memory clinic on Monday we had a home visit from a member of the team yesterday (24 hrs later).  Apparently we had slipped through the net so it really is lucky that I'm fairly resourceful, reasonably capable, have a great support network and had been pointed in the direction of Contented Dementia www.contenteddementiatrust.org/and Young Dementia UK www.youngdementiauk.org.  Anyway we now have a name and contact number if we need any help which is rarely a bad thing.  The purpose of the visit was to get Ash to do a short test involving 30 specific questions some of which needed written answers and then he answered questions about his well-being.  Some of you reading this will have already been through something similar and it certainly brought back memories of previous visits to the clinic especially the one where Ash got so many questions wrong and was so confused that it prompted that fateful diagnosis.  That was 14 months ago.  Yesterday he was so much better than that awful day in December 2017 that I beamed almost the whole time.  He certainly didn't get everything right but he wasn't fazed by the visit and on the whole did very well indeed.  She was especially impressed by his answers to her well-being questions because he was so positive about his life and how he felt in relation to the dementia.  She took note of all the things we have in place to lessen any confusion he might feel and said that they were obviously working which made me very happy and so we ended the visit on an optimistic note and a feeling that all the hard work over the past months has been worth it.  If you are in a similar situation and wondering whether you have the stamina to follow those strategies with dogged determination yesterday's visit proved to me that it was totally the right way to go.  I know it shouldn't take an outsider to validate my feelings but sometimes it's such a help and especially when it's a professional who sees people in our situation on a regular basis and so knows what to look for.

memoryfortwo@gmail.com




Comments

Lesley said…
Just fantastic! Can't wait to catch up next week and hear more xx
Jane said…
You might not be able to shut me up.
Lesley said…
I'll cope! ;o) xx
Ann said…
This is wonderful news! Well done Jane and Ash. x
Sarah H said…
Fantastic! A great reflection on all your hard work and strategies.
Michael said…
Hi Jane, we have memory clinic appointment tomorrow morning. I fully expect an increase in the dosage of the drugs which seems to be the standard practice. Then we will be signed back to our G.P. and sent on our way but after reading your blog I will be asking about these? I’ve nearly completed my book and will pass it onto my daughters who also what to follow your lead.
Jane said…
Support seems to vary so much and is very much a postcode lottery as far as I can see. Out surgery lost interest as soon as they referred Ash to the memory clinic and I've had to fight and fight to get that interest back. Having said that a formal complaint to them seems to have done the trick there and the lady who came our from the memory clinic, although not due back to see Ash for 12 months has given us her number and said to phone if we have any problems. She's also been very supportive over the driving issue (not that it's having much effect but that's a whole other issue). Suggest you make sure you know exactly who's responsible for support after your visit and get a name and number. Good luck and let me know how you get on. So pleased you're passing the book onto your daughters. Our son has been so impressed by the support we've had from Contented Dementia he's doing a 10K swim in Lake Windermere in June to raise money for them.