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Interview 50

Interview 50

Age at Interview: 72
Sex: Male
Age at Diagnosis: 62
Background: Husband caring for his wife. They have 2 children. Family history of Alzheimers disease. Carers occupation retired apple farmer. Patients occupation: retired part-time farm shop worker.

Brief outline:Developed symptoms in her sixties and guessed herself what it was. Dementia progressed but Alzheimers was never actually confirmed. Separation difficulties with day care but easy transfer to residential care. Was treated with tegretol because she developed epilepsy.

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Was open about the problem with all their friends and found himself with 16 regular volunteer helpers.
Print I was always very open with it, with all our friends, we were both in the newly formed choral society and I made no secret that there was a problem to my friends. As a result they knew how to react. I ended up, this is what [name]'s always amazed at, the fact that I had sixteen volunteers I could call on and I still have a list with the dates, so I look up, 'Oh I haven't used so and so for three months and I'll ask them', if there was a meeting I wanted to go to or something like that. And they were marvellous, they came and they all knew [my wife] well, they knew what the problem was, it wasn't that bad apart from the fact that one couldn't leave her on her own, she got anxious. We both also sang in the local church choir which again is the same sort of membership. And because my son plays for the local cricket club we were very involved there socially. So we had volunteers from the cricket club as well. Most people seem to have about two [name] reckons, she said 'I've never met anyone who had sixteen.

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