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Sunday 30 May 2010

Delusional

Not me. My mum is bringing my granddad to stay. He has been getting increasingly delusional lately. Yesterday early morning he climbed out of his bedroom window because he said he had been held hostage in his house all night and so that was the only way out. He also keeps losing his keys, which he attributes to someone coming into the house in the middle of the night and taking them. When my aunt went to see him the other day she had been with him all day, but he seemingly didn't actually know who she was, as when she mentioned having sent something to him he said 'You didn't send that - J did!' She said that she was J, and he said 'Rubbish - J is my daughter!'. He refused to believe that she was his daughter. Someone from an older people's mental health team went out to assess him the other day, and is arranging for him to have someone come in 3 times a day to make sure he is taking his tablets, and to help him get a meal etc, but that hasn't started yet. They have also taken samples to check whether it is an infection or something causing it or not. The police ended up being involved after the climbing out of the window debacle of yesterday, and so someone else was sent out to assess him for respite care, but nothing was done. The trouble is, when he is lucid he seems fine. Then my mum spoke to him this morning and the keys had disappeared again (stolen in the night apparently) and therefore he was locked in the house. So she decided he would have to come and stay with us until the carers visiting was arranged. Of course she had to get into his house by climbing through a window due to the missing keys... I did mention to my dad that I hoped he wouldn't misplace our keys and make us all use a window as a door, but he pointed out that we never know where our keys are anyway, so it wouldn't make much difference. But the next few days could be fun and games.

5 comments:

  1. Aw chick. This is a difficult situation for everyone, and it's so sad to see grandparents like this.

    Hugs

    Sarah x

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  2. Yes. I have just had an interesting talk with him about it all. Apparently there is a man and 2 women living in his house, but they don't actually live in the house they live underneath it, underground, and they suddenly disappear with a pouff like magic, in fact he thinks they probably are magic. But he has apparently only been living there 2 days (he has lived there for years) and he doesn't know where he was before that. There were a few things he said that made me want to laugh so much. My nanny (on the other side of the family) had Alzheimers for quite a few years before she died, and it got very severe, but she didn't have quite such full blown delusions as he is, although she did try to take a cup of tea upstairs to her parents (she was 90 at the time, and living in a bungalow). But her problems were more things like setting the house on fire by leaving things in the oven etc before she went into a home, whereas these delusions are quite interesting. I did say to my mum that he could probably write a pretty good fantasy novel if he wrote some of this stuff down. It is worrying though. x

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  3. Bloody hell, I'll be thinking of you over the next few days. I hope it goes as well as possible. *Hugs*

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  4. *hugs*

    It is really hard when this happens. I think it is sad that our grandparents and older people are living so much longer and their physical bodies are coping, but their brains just don't seem able to keep it up. More and more people are struggling with Alzheimers and it is horrible to witness and so hard to live with. I hope they can get some good support together for him. x

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  5. Thank you. It is definitely challenging. My nanny had very severe Alzheimers, so we have already been through all of this once, although she was far more ill than he is (yet). We are hoping that the current problems are being caused in part by a UTI or something - that is what they are testing for. Otherwise there has been a very sudden decline, which would seem too rapid really. But my mum is taking him back home tomorrow and he will have carers coming in 3 times a day, and he has an appointment with a Psychiatrist next week for a more thorough assessment, plus of course these test results to wait for. My mum is also trying to find sheltered housing or a home for him, but which one depends really on what is going on with him at the moment. x

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