DEMENTIA EARLY STAGES AND CAREGIVERS

When I was first diagnosed with dementia after nine years of slowly fadeing memory and cognitive abilities, I was rather shocked. Since then my memory loss has deteriorated slightly, but less than it was doing. This was because of the extensive reaearch that both my Julian, my wife and caregiver and I carried out, to be able to deal with the challenges that lay ahead. As a result of that research we slowed down dramatically, both memory loss and cognitive ability loss. However, the problem of ballance which I had before has been completely erradicated. Apart from the change of diet and exercise of body and mind as outlined in my book,'My Dementia and I',we also thoroughly researched the challenges to be faced by the caregiver. These are of course immense, and unless one has paid professionals one will be dependent on the love and loyalty of a loved one. It quickly became apparent to us, that the stress on the caregiver is immense. Indeed, n many cases the caregiver gets ill and dies before the patient. A gtreat many cases of this seem to be closely related to both the stress of looking after a patient in the later stages of dementia and the early stages of Alzheimer's. The chalenges faced and stress caused are often made worse by the lack of further support from other family members and the fact that as a result this incredibly tough task, probably the hardest on the planet, becomes twenty four hours, seven days a week and year after year. We concluded that plans in our case would have to be made covering the years ahead. It is essential for both parties to first of all become completely aware of what dementia and Alzheimer's mean in practical terms. Then, it is essential that plans are made to cover routine challenges of the patient, such as keeping a diary of tasks to be done and ticking them off when they have been done. This is the stage that I am still in, but I am very aware that my ability to continue daily very well, as at present, may not last forever. It seems impossible for me to mmagine some of the problems, such as the loss for example of the ability to read and write. Also, that I may forget how to do up my buttons, or even how to lift an arm etc. However, these are all possibilities and they effect the caregiver as well as the patient. In fact, they probably effect the caregiver far more, because with the patient's possible loss of memory recall, perhaps life will cease to be challenging, because one will forget problems. So, the most important thing is to plan ahead. Financially, everyone's circumstances will differ, but planning breaks for the caregiver and further support for the caregiver will apply to everyone. Personally, I have long past the stage of being embarassed about my condition and everyone close to us knows about it. They never talk about it, because it is difficult to know how to talk to someone in my position with a slow, but nevertheless progessive dementia. Because I no longer have any family in South Africa, apart from Julian, I now plan to expand the circle of people connected through possible Alzheimer's and so I offer a 'ementia Mentor' service, by phone and e mail, for information based on my own experiences and my research. However, I have found the greatest value to others lays in the facility to just chat about our similar circumstances. I can be contacted here in South Africa at any time during the day our time on 0027 840467775 or by e mail dwheater@lantic.net This week I have become aware of some further memory deterioration, although I have alsi discovered that if one makes an effort to remember something, such as for example where I put a key, then I usually remember. Life goes on very pleasantly here. The weather has moved from the cold of Winter and by passed Spring and gone straight into Summer. About 34% today. We ae all well. The pool is now sorted out for the Summer, although the temperature is not much above freezing! Boysie, our Jack Russel has been in once, but has not proved too keen to try again, just yet. Bobby the parrot loves the heat and chats to the birds in the garden all day. David Barnato. Paarl' South Afria.