Leanne Moss

WHY AM I FUNDRAISING FOR DEMENTIA AUSTRALIA?

Saturday 27th Jun

I have thought hard about what I would share of my experience with Mum having dementia. 

My initial thought was that I want everyone to have only the memories of Mum before the changes started to happen. 

Or to share some of the many funny things said, that we try to hang onto.

But the reality is that I thought that, after dealing with her initial confusion, anger & paranoia and finally getting her settled in an amazing aged care centre, I was prepared for Mum’s decline.  For some reason, I thought her memories would progressively take her into her past, and she would become more childlike and happy.

Unfortunately it isn’t all like that.

While I hold onto the fact that even when Mum doesn’t know that I am her daughter, she still knows that I am someone important in her life that she loves, it is a heartbreaking journey.

While medication has helped calm her, she still has occasions of becoming agitated and hits out at staff.

Mum is now unable to weight bear so is bedridden, and her lack of co-ordination and concentration means that she is unable to feed herself.

The periods where her eyes are glazed and unfocused, and she is somewhere else totally, become longer.

But what I am finding hardest is that, while we are fortunate that she is still able to speak, her brain is “short circuiting” more and more.  She spends much of her time making repetitive sounds or words.  When speaking to her, the conversation is becoming more & more dispersed with these sounds. 

Dementia does not allow you to decline with dignity.

This is why I want to support Dementia Australia in their research and support services.

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