Help at last

At last, things are finally happening with help for my mother and myself as her main carer. Today, we had a social worker and a community matron visit together and they have assessed us and we shall get quite a lot of help including paid care workers, support aids, a communication system for night times, other professional help such as a dietician and an occupational therapist, and the possibility of a day centre for my mother so she can mix with other people of her own age and give me some respite. She has agreed to this although in the past she has not been keen on this and I don't know if she will go when the time comes. It feels like a tremendous weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I shall still have things that I need to do but some of the jobs I am reluctant to do or am unable to do will now be done by a paid care worker. I am still awaiting a decision on Attendance Allowance but I think there is a good chance she will get that, and if she does, I can apply for Carers' Allowance.

I love mum to bits but I hate the disease that is afflicting her and hundreds of thousands of others in this country and millions more around the world, and that is only the diagnosed cases. There must be many more in this country who remain undiagnosed. The majority of people with dementia, and Alzheimers Disease is but one of several types of dementia, are elderly, and the elderly are not a very glamorous or trendy group to work with and in some cases, elderly care is the Cinderella of services. What is the point of having people reaching 85, 90 or even a hundred if in so many cases they are being affected by dementia? Or for that matter when it means people have got to carry on working until they drop because pensions can no longer be afforded at age 65? I just hope I don't live much beyond 75 if it means the price to pay is confusion, memory loss, incontinence, inability to move, loss of independence and lack of dignity.