Joanne Ford

Me

Friday 10th Oct Just wanted to share my story, in March 2020 my mum came to live with us during lockdown, as she lived on her own, we enjoyed having her stay, she helped with the chores and cooking. When lockdown stopped she wine t back home, but her neighbour noticed mums odd behaviour, buying to much food, forgetting to walk her dog and forgetting how to cook, so we decided to get her tested for Dementia, the results came back that she had vascular dementia and mixed Alzheimer’s, what a shock, we again decided that she was not safe on her own, so she moved in permanently with us, we sold her house and her car, times were good, dog walking, dining out, dancing and chilling together, then in Dec 2021 mum fell over at home and broke her hip, after the operation she was a very different person, she was unable to walk, due to not understanding what the physios were saying, before she came home we needed a hospital bed installed and a hoist, we couldn’t wait for he room come home, but each day got worse and worse, she had a lovely sunny bedroom and she could listen to the birds singing, we had a lot of support from careers, district nurses, and the speech therapist, who said that mum seemed to be struggling to chew her food, so we ended up pureeing everything, she eat well after that, she was incontinent, so changing her was hard, as it was just me, the carers came in twice a day, so that took some pressure off, oh sorry I forgot to say that I also worked full time, my work were amazing, we made sure mum was comfortable and warm everyday, she had visits from friends, so that we could have  a break, then in December 2022, mum started  to not open her eyes, not communicate and not eat, which was hard to watch and not understand why, I had to put wet cotton wall in her mouth, as she would not close her mouth, then on 7th Dec mum passed away, ironically it was my dads birthday, it was hard to watch mum over that time and see my mums smiling face turn into a sad drawn person.  Share