Losing my Mum one memory at a time
Tim Thornborough
Visits to my mum follow a predictable path. She recognises me as I walk in. I sit with her and hold her hand. She asks me how everyone is – her eyes betraying the internal struggle to remember who the people are that I am talking about. They are her grandchildren, her daughter-in-law. The conversation is punctuated by repeated questions. My answers are honed sharp by repetition.
“I’m ready to go home whenever you are.”
Dementia: The burdens of caring for loved ones
Tim Thornborough
There are seasons in life – each with their joys and pains. There are times of freedom and choice, and times when we are constrained by our responsibilities – whether that is work, children, church ministry or relationships. But a new season of testing has become a much bigger reality for people in their 50s and 60s: the season of caring for dementia sufferers. Why is this?
As we live longer – and the physical illnesses of congestive heart disease and cancer that limited our parents to the “threescore years and ten” have receded – there is an increased likelihood that we will find ourselves caring for parents, relatives and partners who are one of the growing numbers with some kind of dementia.