I was the personal carer of a lady who had been diagnosed with Vascular Dementia. She was a lovely lady who had moments of lucidity and then others where you would be her mother in the 20’s.
She had a great sense of humour and on days when she was lucid would say who wants to know anything about the stock exchange she had been an accountant all her life.
She could be difficult sometimes but we always found common ground to communicate. We would chatter, about all manner of things, she would always instigate the subject, she liked books and photo’s drives in the car to familiar places, fish and chips by the beach.
She was wheelchair bound and liked to walk her dog in the street and stop and chat with people. Although the memory was going and she became frail, we were able to maintain a level of communication.
I found it was always good to keep thing simple not too many choices. We provided her with home care for 4 years until she passed away peacefully in her sleep.
A story from a Homecaring Care Worker
