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- Member
Mon Oct 11, 2010 5:56 pm
Hi, I'm Jane, a primary school teacher, due to retire next year. At the moment I am not at work as the stress of the last few months has taken it's toll on me. I care for my mum, 87, who was finally diagnosed with Alzheimer's in July, following various visits to the memory clinic, a brain scan and a very long wait for a follow up appointment. I have been very worried about her since about this time last year as the "forgetfulness" was becoming more severe and causing her problems in her every day life. Anyway, she ended up in hospital in August with dehydration and a UTI as she had not been eating or drinking despite my efforts to encourage her. Whilst in hospital the OT did an assessment and declared she was "unsafe to discharge" without a care package in place. I hadn't realised that mum could no longer even make a cup of tea - I always make the tea when I visit! Mum lives in sheltered accommodation - but there has been no warden since July which hasn't helped. She had been having meals on wheels since January - but over the last few months rarely ate them or left them until they were cold. She hasn't washed up or cleared anything in the kitchen for many months, and wasn't taking her medication unless I went and gave it to her- these were all signs to me that something was really wrong.
Now we have a 3x a day care package and I have employed someone privately to go and prepare a simple lunch on weekdays. This is starting to work well and mum is physically better than she has been for a long time. I'm now able to "back off" a bit but the responsibility remains. My sister lives abroad, as does my daughter and my son has a young baby and lives some distance away, so I feel as if I never get a break from the worry.
My GP has told me I'm depressed and put me on anti - depressants - I seem to have lost my confidence and am worried about going back into the classroom. I guess the fact this all happened at the beginning of a new school year hasn't helped.
Sorry to ramble on, but that's me. thanks for reading this.
Now we have a 3x a day care package and I have employed someone privately to go and prepare a simple lunch on weekdays. This is starting to work well and mum is physically better than she has been for a long time. I'm now able to "back off" a bit but the responsibility remains. My sister lives abroad, as does my daughter and my son has a young baby and lives some distance away, so I feel as if I never get a break from the worry.
My GP has told me I'm depressed and put me on anti - depressants - I seem to have lost my confidence and am worried about going back into the classroom. I guess the fact this all happened at the beginning of a new school year hasn't helped.
Sorry to ramble on, but that's me. thanks for reading this.
Hi and welcome, so pleased you`ve joined us, there`s nothing worse than feeling issolated and depressed with the feeling there`s no one who understands, so hopefully you`ll make lots of friends here.
