Last weds i had a Memory Clinic nursre visit me at home to give me results of Memory Test and Brain Scan. This was delayed the results from tests in feb due to Covid. Im 67 single lady no children or partner, I was told that the results show that i have early signs of Vascular Dementia..caused by (possibly) the heart not pumping blood and oxygen to the brain. THE scan shows brain cells and neurons dying....They think this is due to my heart condition. I was born a Rubella Syndrome Baby and had heart murmur. I Had PDA aged 8, and further surgery for long term AS. AVR. was performed in Oct 2015. I had Sepsis literally 1 year anniversery today they did CT Scan and said I had a 1 cm aorta...in torbay on hols. As result of that CT scan and further scan due to blue lighted with chest pain april 2020. THE Cardiologist doing a 6 monthly phone clinic check up - said he felt the Aorta had delianated or dilated ...but looking at the scan ...But on revising that scan he now says no sign of "aneurysm" the torbay ct scan was poor quality! And AVR good no problems heart pumping fine from April 2020 Scan. but when I "challenged" him re that and explained about Vascular Dementia findings he "did not agree" and said had no copy of that brain scan..
I had to get it for him,! My gp today was quite terse with me ...said no need to see me, and the Cardiologist would be able to get copy of the scan results uploaded himself! Plus my family, sister. etc seem to feel i should be taking out power of attorney AND looking at moving from.my flat and neighbours to sheltered accommodation! Im gutted. Thoughts and advise please.
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Saracencat
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That’s a huge amount to be dealing with. How do you feel? Why did you have the memory test?
There’s nothing wrong with putting LPA in place before anything happens but you must understand what you are signing. With regard to moving home, how do you feel?
You could contact BHF nurses and see what support there is, in order for you to make a good decision.
Hi Saracencat reading your post it seems to me your dementia is not too advanced yet, but I am not a doctor. I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry just yet to move out of your home or hand your financial dealings to other people however close they may be, perhaps you could get a second opinion about your dementia condition. Don't let anyone write you of yet. Take care and keep well, sending you lots of love. Ruth
From what I know about vascular dementia (my masters thesis was on blood flow patterns in dementia), it is caused by blood flow issue to specific brain areas- this has many causes but is poorly understood. One of the reasons is believed to include coronary artery disease (hence nurse „potentially“ suggesting cardiac problem as the cause) . However, the cardiac problems you refer to are not that and should not really have an impact on oxygenation- I would let the discrepancy between the doctors and nurses comments go and try not to stress about it. The truth is we Just do not understand dementia that any opinion on cause is likely to be more of an opinion than fact.
Power of Attorney/ Advance Decisions: I do not know a great deal about how they work but my granny had one in place for a mental health condition so I saw a little about they were used. You absolutely should not rush in to the Power of Attorny or any Advanced Decision without being ready yourself (nobody should be pressurising you to be ready) and you need to know what you are signing- while in your case not immediately they give away a lot of control. This said, in society death has gone from this natural part of life to a big scary event that we do not like to talk about. If you approach it in your own time before your dementia deteriorates then you will have much more of a say in what should happen when you are no longer able to make decisions yourself. Leave it unanswered, and those with LPA will be to some extent left guessing what it is you would have liked. In my grans case, this meant a lot of arguments when she was dying of COVID as those with LPA just could not agree- so maybe be open to finding out more about them without committing to it first.
I am so sorry to read your post, it must be the most awful time for you. I don’t have personal experience apart from a friend who’s Mother as the same condition, she was diagnosed over 5 years ago and is still living on her own in the family home, they have put in place a LPA but that’s for the future, though it did cause some upset between a couple of the sisters! She as always gone to the shops every day so as found the lockdown difficult. My friend had a conversation with the memory nurse and was told that keeping things as familiar as possible was the best way to proceed. 5 years on as I said she is doing ok, she has very good neighbours who all keep an eye open,
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