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An Evening with Mary- Memories of Yesteryear - Carers Stories

16/03/2016

Mary had been diagnosed with dementia. She did not want to talk a lot because she forgot what she was talking about during conversations. When she started to describe a situation from her life she became angry due to her memory. She really wanted to talk, but she could not. I tried to organise free time for her. She liked to watch movies and read books (even if she read the same chapter every day). I saw that it made her happy.

Undoubtedly the most pleasant activity for her was playing with puzzles. She had a lot of them, but one was particularly unique. It showed boys who were fishing and playing on a raft. When I gave her the choice she always chose that one, even she did not remember that she chose it the day before. I noticed that when she did this puzzle a few days in a row it became easier for her.

I turned on “The Sound of Music” on the video regularly and we listened to it whilst playing with puzzles. She could not remember my name or everyday trivialities but she was able to perfectly sing the songs from the movie. She sang word by word and she smiled all the way through. It took me a lot of time to find the best way to spend free time with Mary.

I talked with a specialist for dementia and he told me that it is easy for sufferers to remember things that they used to know in the past (like the songs from this movie) than things from the present. Therefore, caregivers should try to find something from the past (that the client remembers) which will activate these people’s memories.

During the conversation with the specialist, I told her that Mary, my client, liked to talk about her daughter. I told her about our evenings and about the activities which Mary liked the most. The specialist was a little surprised. The caregiver before me put on the TV for her and this also seemed to make Mary happy. She probably was, however it did not stimulate her brain which is very important to combat this illness. We cannot stop dementia, but we can slow down the demise. Everything depends on our involvement.

What is more, I observed that after such  evenings, Mary enjoyed the following days without any anger, difficult situations and the sundown syndrome.


Edited By:

Daniel James
www.danieljamesbio.com
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