Guest Post by: Philip Hall
Right now, Dementia is in the news more often than not, and for very good reason.
Because this condition, disease, call it what you like, is proving to be the largest social care dilemma for quite some time.
For years, I simply thought it was a problem that other people had to deal with, there was no way that our family would ever have to face up to this awful set of circumstances.
And then, something happened that threatened to tear my whole family apart.
My father was diagnosed with Vascular Dementia.
I’m not going to write a tear jerking account of how a once proud and highly intelligent man was reduced to a shuffling wreck within two short years, what would be the point?
Neither do I care to share the utter heartbreak that I felt when I visited him in a mental health hospital after flying my own family back from our new life overseas.
“But I implore any of you to seek medical advice the very minute that you suspect one of your loved ones is showing signs of Dementia.”
You see, I really do hope that none of you ever have to go through the living hell that Dementia can bring to your family door, and I mean that most sincerely.
But I implore any of you to seek medical advice the very minute that you suspect one of your loved ones is showing signs of dementia.
You can find a list of symptoms on most health care websites, so I’ll not list them here.
My biggest regret, and one that I will probably take to the grave, is that now I think about it, I am certain that Dad was showing these signs a long time before he really went downhill.
Could we have prevented his dementia from taking away his dignity, his soul, his personality?
Probably not, but we may have been able to find treatment that slowed this God awful disease from taking him away so bloody fast.
And I for one, would have avoided having some pretty fiery arguments with a man who seemed to be getting stubborn and ignorant to facts way before a ‘normal’ person should have done.
So please, please, please, don’t let this happen to someone you love, because there really is no way back.
Phil Hall is the son of a Dementia sufferer and is doing his best to keep it together. Please feel free to read about his exploits here and here.
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