Andy Mckay

WHY I take part in the Dementia UK Sponsored Events!!

Thursday 30th Jul Back in 2013 I noticed my Dad was getting confused & very forgetful when I visited him 2-3 times per week & to my utter shock he allowed me to make a GP appointment for him, Long story short early November 2013 we got an early diagnosis of Alzheimers. By New year's day 2014  we'd given up his 1 bedroom pokey flat & he'd moved into my huge 2 bedroom flat back in the city & area he'd been raised & grown up in (in a sense he'd come home)  After 1 long but sensible meeting with specialists etc we were given the usual ""Safe Time Period"" of life etc and we were given a timeoeriod if between 4-7.5 years. At every appointment with GP & Specialists etc I would have 1 mobile phone & 1 voice recorder to record everything we were being told.At night when he was asleep I would listen to the meetings & write any important I may need etc into my "Information folders".  I'd sworn from Day 1 of Diagnosis that I'd look after my Dad no matter how bad he got but 2018 was the year that nearly killed me, Firstly he fell out of bed & badly broken his hip and over the 5 months he was in hospital trying to recover from the new hip replacement he  seemed to lock himself inside his own head & shut out everything and everyone. At that point I was living in the hospital room beside him & didn't realise that I'd slipped into severe depression etc. 1 day there was a care meeting with myself, specialists & social workers etc and it was obvious there n then that my dad was too far gone with the Alzheimers disease that he needed 24/7 care (bearing in mind at home I had a carer come in for 30 mins a day & I did everything else for him myself) Reluctantly I had to make the choice of him going into a carehome & after visiting between 8-10 places I chose a beautiful Carehome that specialised in Dementia/Alzheimers. For the next 6 years he lived happily in the care unit & made lots of friends both other residents & staff.  Then on the 16th of December 2024 my "FAITHER" developed a cold which turned into a chest infection and over the next 9 days he slowly got worse untill the Doctor told us that his body was rejecting every antibiotic etc they were giving him to fight the infection & at that point all they were doing was prolonging his organs from failing. After A lot of tears I rang  family members Share