On the way back from the grocery store, my parents and I were talking about an event that just happened. I recounted my version, my mom recounted hers, and my dad just responded that he had no idea what we were talking about. We all giggled. He then responded with “That’s just your demented dad talking.”
I almost hit the brakes. Was my dad reading my blog? Did he see the debate I started when I used the term “demented” to describe my parents?
During this process, my parents have been sitting through the medical discussions with doctors. My dad typically doesn’t say a word while my mom will refute each statement made. My dad admits that he has no memory, and my mom say’s “her brain is bad.” However, when a recommendation is made to consider changes to their lives they refuse to budge.
We recently had a follow-up with the neurologist who shared the results of the MRI tests. Mom, dad and Kay are all sitting in the examination room. We are told that my Dad has Vascular Dementia with signs of Alzheimer’s and my Mom has Vascular Dementia.
While my mom had a stroke (that left no physical traces), she can see many other smaller strokes occurring in her brain. The cognitive testing lead us to believe my mom had some Alzheimer’s but it’s not apparent on the MRI test. My dad has been having many smaller strokes and they also saw signs of Alzheimer’s which was not apparent in his cognitive testing.
My parents were in the room so I didn’t ask questions beyond, what pills do they need to take to minimize the stroke risk and help with their memory. It seems the repetition is starting to sink in. I just hope they will accept help from more than just their children in the coming months as things progress. Prayed.
Lovely blog post Kay 🙂