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Elderly parents

Caring for elderly relatives? Pop in for support, a hand hold, advice, whatever you need.

981 replies

picklemepopcorn · 06/03/2018 12:42

Carrying on from previous thread, IF I can work out how to link...

Come and offload your worries and frustration here, and share your experience and hard won wisdom with the rest of us!

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thesandwich · 29/05/2018 09:30

Being cantankerous is how they keep going i think. Sorry to hear that yolo- does she/ would she use a frame etc?
pickle - 😇 award for you. Plus 🍫and Brew

whatever45 · 30/05/2018 06:07

Just popping in to say hi. Hope everyone has a good day today. Brief update here is that we have a meeting to discuss mums future on Monday. Meanwhile she keeps phoning me in tears as think she's very worried and also new medication making her emotional. I had chat with staff at the rehab Home who quite rightly explained they are deliberately getting her to do things independently so that she can see realistically what it would be like if she goes home. Fortunately they seem to have got a good measure of the whole situation and seem very on it.

picklemepopcorn · 30/05/2018 16:08

I'm glad the staff understand the situation, and are helping whatever.

I'm smiling a little Yolo at the image of a cantankerous baby bird! When I can see past the complaining and bitterness, Mum is doing incredibly well. She doesn't like it, of course, because she doesn't want to be independent/able to look after herself. The fact is though, she can!

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yolofish · 30/05/2018 16:38

whatever that sounds as though the staff are on the case, but horrible for you while she's anxious. pickle it's kind of the other way round here - mum wants to be independent and do everything, but cant. I guess the difference is the age when widowed, mum was 66 when dad died and living in another country from us, and I had DD1 8 wks later, so she really had to learn her independence immediately. Now its going/almost gone its very hard for her - giving up driving etc (although that is a world benefit tbh). good news is she's very happy with her carers, an hour a day of chat, housework etc, she likes them and it means I dont have to panic if I actually cant get in because I know she's seen a friendly face in the morning.

minmooch · 30/05/2018 16:50

Hello everyone.

My father assaulted me this morning. He had been at the police station very confused and with a knife (sporting knife and he has many). The police asked me to meet them at his flat to remove all the other knives.

Shortly after they left he accused me of stealing his wallet, kicked me and kicked a unit. I said I was leaving and then he pushed me in the bed and had an office chair on top of me. I was asking him to stop it, get off me feeling terrified. His mobile phone rang and I asked him to get it but he wouldn't . The house phone rang and I was able to push the chair off and grab the phone and screamed for help and to call the police. Dad was then swinging punches at me, missing but I picked up a hole punch thinking fuck I'm going to have to hit him. I begged him to let me get my stuff and leave so he let me in the kitchen (where there was more space) but he had his fists raised swinging them at me. All the while I'm begging him not to do this. He was smiling all the way - I think he enjoyed seeing me frightened. He wouldn't get out of the doorway and although he was saying go on then get out I was frightened to get too close to him. He then put his arms down and I made a run for it.

The same police officers arrived and my brother came. I thought they weee going to section him but didn't.

Now got the Mental Health Crisis Team at my Dads to assess him. I'm in the car park after explaining what happened. My brother's up there with them. I hope they section him as he's not safe, I'm not safe.

I'm due to go on holiday tomorrow too☹️

What a horrible horrible day.

picklemepopcorn · 30/05/2018 17:26

Oh minMooch!

Im so sorry!

All I can offer is a virtual hug.

Please go on holiday as planned. Let someone else take the strain. Worry about it later.

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thesandwich · 30/05/2018 17:28

Virtual hug mini from me too. How awful. And go on holiday.you deserve it.

Needmoresleep · 30/05/2018 18:08

How awful.

Go on holiday! I suspect there may be a more satisfactory resolution if you are not around to pick up the pieces. And a break, with a chance to think, may be what you need.

yolofish · 30/05/2018 19:14

oh mini I am so sorry, that must have been so frightening. yes agree to going away, if only to recharge your batteries - sending love

whatever45 · 30/05/2018 22:53

Oh Min Mooch, what a day. I'm so sorry, hope you are ok. Not sure what I can say that's much help other than that there are lots of us thinking of you. I agree you should definitely go on holiday x

annandale · 30/05/2018 23:21

Oh god mooch. How terrifying. I really hope you get to go on holiday.

minmooch · 31/05/2018 14:53

Thanks for all your messages. I am just packing and will be going on holiday.

Crisis Team have said I am the trigger to my fathers reactions and they don't perceive him to be a threat to himself or anyone else. This despite him trying to break down the door to the block of flats on Monday, kicking other flat doors etc. Social Services are reluctant to put careers in due to risks. They are at stalemate as to what should happen.

I am going to go non contact for a while on their advice as I am the trigger. My brother is around but it is impractical for him to offer the care I was giving. I think he will be ok for a few days and then he will crash again and transfer his anger on to others in the not too distant future. It's like waiting for a car crash to happen.

In effect I have lost a father, I will never feel safe again in his presence. He has lost more than just a daughter. He doesn't know me as his daughter any more. I think he sees me as the manifestation of all the anger he has towards my mother ( she left him 7 months before she died, she was ill and went to stay with her sister. They never really reconciled their differences before she died although he was there, visited etc when she was in hospital.)

It's all horrible really and I'm exhausted by it all, and all the horrible things that have happened over the last 6 years - son diagnosed with cancer and then died, mum ill and died from cancer and/or a stroke.

It's messy, I'm tired.

Needmoresleep · 31/05/2018 15:04

I hope you have a lovely holiday. Perhaps in some ways it is a good thing this has happened before you go, even though it overshadows the holiday. I hope you come back with a good sense of where you can help and where you cannot, and are also able to grieve.

picklemepopcorn · 31/05/2018 16:09

It sounds like you are completely absolved of any responsibility, and quite right too! You can't help him anymore- you've done far more than you had to, and it's right that you take a break now.

He can't value your care anymore, even if he ever did. Get back to the life you had started to rebuild. It's your turn now.

Thanks
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annandale · 01/06/2018 10:57

I'm going to be cynical here mooch but once you have come back from holiday I would write a short letter saying that your father is now extremely violent towards you based on his actions on date xx, that SS advise no further contact between you and that you cannot safely be involved in his career, and send it to his GP for insertion into his record. You would not believe how short memories are in the NHS and SS and you don't want anyone assuming you can be part of the picture in the future.

annandale · 01/06/2018 10:58

Care not career

minmooch · 01/06/2018 14:05

Good advice annandale I shall do that as soon as I get back.

whatever45 · 03/06/2018 17:09

Decided to take teenage children away camping for a few days last week as I wanted to give them some quality time after being so busy and emotional with all the drama with Mum and Dad over last two months. Saw Mum last Sunday and then messaged her on Wednesday to say we'd gone away for a couple of days. The reply.. 'Lucky you'. That's it. Not 'lovely hope you and grandchildren have a great time. Safe journey..' Nothing. I miss having a parent.

UnderTheOakTree · 03/06/2018 20:45

Hello! I’ve not been on Mumsnet for a while (& have namechanged!). I want to write about my parents so I can get some perspective but I’m not quite ready to do it yet - it all feels a bit overwhelming so I’m just saying hello rather than lurking! I’ll go & have a think about where to start...
Wishing everyone a nice evening in the meantime! WineBrew

picklemepopcorn · 03/06/2018 21:36

That's disappointing, isn't it, whatever. I'm glad you took some time for you and the teens- you're right, it's really important!

Hullo, Oaktree! We're hear when you want to talk. There is lots of experience on here, both practical and emotional.

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Grumplegranskein · 03/06/2018 21:57

@undertheoaktree this is such a friendly place to get help. Under another name I was hear for 8years. The knowledge, support and humour kept me sane. I don’t know if I would have coped without this thread.

When you are ready just put anything you feel like. Sometimes our responsibilities are so overwhelming that we are just inarticulate babblers.

thesandwich · 04/06/2018 09:24

Ooops thread vanished....
whatever Glad you got away but it is hard to be greeted like that. Dm can be another thief of joy......
Grumble and oak.... it is a v supportive place for advice, sympathy, to vent, and to say what we can’t in real life. Here when you need us...

UnderTheOakTree · 04/06/2018 09:46

Right, I’m just going to start & see where I end up!
My DF has had Parkinson’s for 18+ years alongside a raft of other health issues. He’s in a wonderful care home where he’s happy & comfortable. Recently he’s gone rapidly downhill in terms of mobility but also cognitive capacity and has now been diagnosed with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). This manifests mainly through delusional episodes, which make communication tricky sometimes as it’s hard to access what he’s experiencing.
Whilst I’m not directly caring for him, I am supporting my DM, who is quite a complicated person - our relationship is not straightforward or easy, although often because I bite my tongue and smile through gritted teeth! She lives very nearby and I speak to her every day at least once and see her several times a week but it’s really hard work - she’s very high maintenance & always has been.
My lovely MIL is also showing signs of dementia - we think Alzheimer’s - and so I’m also trying to be supportive to my DH (who is very supportive to me & my parents!) and his mum. I speak to her a few times a week on the phone & she comes to stay for at least a week several times a year.
We’ve got 3 DCs who need our attention too, I’ve been woefully neglecting my business which has all but ground to a halt and I’m finding my way through my latest period of depression with the help of mindfulness, my lovely friends, a bit of running & Prozac!!!
I’m exhausted - I keep thinking that I ought to be able to cope with all of this, it’s none of it really terrible etc etc, but then I think that 2 very dear people in my life are deteriorating rapidly & I just don’t know how to deal with it.
My DF is such a lovely man but you only get glimpses of him now & I just want my Dad back.
I think sometimes I just need a bit of reassurance that it’s ok to find this really hard & upsetting, rather than just trying to battle on with a brave smile?
If you’ve got to the end of this - thankyou for listening! Flowers

Grumplegranskein · 04/06/2018 11:03

When I first came on this thread I was caring for my MiL, my mum and step-father. I was retired and all my children had left home. I found it really hard work and very depressing. Especially as I had a poor relationship with all of them and neither my BiL, his wife, my DH or my Brother did anything.

Then I saw people on here coping with the same thing but with full time work, children going through exams, disabled partners, personal ill health and all sorts of other things. It made me realise how unfair and difficult life can be. Almost without exception they spoke about the guilt of neglecting those around them.

You and they are coping with so much more than one person should be expected to. The exhaustion, never feeling you are doing enough, sadness for the relative and quite often a secret wish that the person could let go of a life that has no pleasure for them.

Through life we are problem solvers. We see what needs doing and find practical help to make the problem go away. With looking after the elderly there are so many limits to what we can do that will actually make a difference. The frustration of day after day dealing with unsolvable problems is perhaps the hardest.

I really hope that just by coming on here you will know that you are not alone. There is lots of help and guidance but what we all would like to do is be another pair of hands for you. Because that is what we really need.

It is important to try and take time for yourself once in a while.💐

thesandwich · 04/06/2018 11:23

What a lovely wise post grumple.
And oak- you have so much on, not just the practical but also grieving for who your dad was.
Please don’t feel guilty about being worn out and overwhelmed...... you cannot do it all. Keep finding space for you.

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