Dementia

On Friday MIL rang Himself many times (yes the phone is back on) saying that someone had told her that both her parents were dead and she wanted the police to investigate. Normally these things are forgotten and she moves on to something else but she has become fixated on this.

I rang the nurses station and asked if they could test her for a UTI as she gets them frequently and they send her completely doolally to the point of hallucinations. The test suggested faintly that something might be brewing but certainly not a full blown infection.

She continued to ring over the weekend and Himself would assure her he was looking into it. I rang her as well and she said she understood if they were dead as they were old (no shit sherlock) but she wanted to know why she hadn't been told and there was a skeleton in their room.

Today I spoke with the care coordinator at the facility who said MIL has been asking her the same questions. I told her about the family, the history during the war, the relationship between MIL, FIL and her parents (not good) and how and when Nana and Grandad both died and where they were buried. She will sit down with MIL and use that information to hopefully get her to understand they have died and there was no foul play.

I feel so sorry for my MIL. It must be awful living with chunks of your memory gone and those that remain don't make sense.

The care she is receiving and the staff at the facility are phenomenal.

Dementia sucks.

** we just had a call from the coordinator who said she managed to calm MIL and now she just wants to see the death certificate. Considering she is blind I'm sure we can provide that.

*** and we just heard from MIL and she's all over the place. I assured her I would get her the death certificate but now she's stressing cos she didn't give them a funeral. And when I told her about the plaques on the grave she told me they were made in advance. I see a few challenging days ahead of us.