Lady taken to hospital for UTI advised she solely had months to reside because of dementia

Jul 15, 2023 at 5:36 AM
Lady taken to hospital for UTI advised she solely had months to reside because of dementia

Despite having had three strokes in her lifetime, Eileen “was all right in herself”.

Granddaughter Mandy described her nan, 87, as “a good listener” who was “always there for people” and “loved to laugh”.

Eileen’s strokes had precipitated some mobility points and made her neglect the odd phrase right here and there.

“My nan wasn’t showing any signs of dementia before she went into hospital,” Mandy shared.

“Nan didn’t really have any major problems with her memory and would talk about current affairs with ease.”

Mandy mentioned: “Just two days later when I visited Nan in the hospital, she couldn’t talk properly, she couldn’t sit up unaided, and she was very confused.

“Nan was talking about issues that didn’t make sense and had requested me to assist her escape from the hospital. It seemed like she had delirium.”

Mandy stated: “She had additionally misplaced lots of weight in just some days – all fats disappearing into pores and skin and bone as she grew to become unable to feed herself.”

When the medical team performed a head scan, they saw damage on the brain, which could have been related to the strokes Eileen suffered from.

“She was then referred to a psychiatrist to have reminiscence exams,” Eileen recalled.

“During these exams, Nan wasn’t in a position to say how previous she was, when the battle ended, who the Prime Minister was.”

Mandy was shocked. “Before going into hospital with a UTI, she would have been in a position to reply these questions fairly simply,” she said.

“It was at this second that the physician knowledgeable me that my nan had dementia and that she solely had between six and 12 months left to reside.”

Eileen passed away four months after being admitted to hospital and diagnosed with dementia. 

Devastated, Mandy turned to the internet for support and stumbled across the Alzheimer’s Society.

“Their web site had a great deal of very useful data that helped me know easy methods to speak and take care of my nan throughout this time that I didn’t get elsewhere,” Eileen told Express.co.uk.

“Without it, I wouldn’t have had the assistance and assist I wanted, and I wouldn’t have been ready to deal with the loss.”

Mandy did the Memory Walk in 2022 and is doing the Memory Walk this year, on October 8.

“It’s a superb approach to honour my nan’s life and to assist different individuals who’re going by the same scenario,” said Eileen.

One in three people born today will develop dementia in their lifetime. This Autumn, join thousands of others and sign up for free to an Alzheimer’s Society Memory Walk, to help stop dementia from devastating lives. Sign up now at memorywalk.org.uk.