ONE ABOUT PARKINSON’S DISEASE, and LEWY BODY DEMENTIA
Hi everyone ,
After my recent employment through a local service provider as a gardener, and to also provide respite for the most lovely lady client that had developed dementia ,and that I affectionately had called Ruth.
Her dementia had already gone past the early stage ,and was steadily worsening over time.
Some of the events and interactions that took place whilst I was working there ,ended up preserved in my written recordings of the fun and important things that had taken place and were penned , on my facebook profile , individually under the title of, Mother &Son.
These short stories were both a light hearted and serious look at how this disorder not only effects the person that is actually afflicted with it ,
but how it directly effects their families and friends and especially their carers. In stories, that are currently hidden away now deep within my archives of my Facebook profile.
So I hope that the new upcoming public website curlyg.life
gives everyone easy access to not only those stories but to many more stories like this one and lots of other articles that may interest you.
Its currently under construction and I hope its up and running in the next few weeks .
So I do believe that things went really well with me and Ruth ,
but the job ceased under the current guidelines and rules of age care packages ,and that is who had employed me , to garden for her because , as soon as a client enters full time care as in living in an a nursing home, and they cease living in their primary home, their care plan and package containing the funding allocated to them is immediately cancelled and the money is returned to the government.
A lot of people in general don’t understand that the client who has the package or their family has to pay a daily service fee to retain the package that is managed and administrated through a case manager working for a care provider company.
Some people choose to and are deemed capable of self managing their own package but are still subject to a service providers management and supervision.
The funds are available with approval to purchase both goods and services to make it possible for the client to remain living at home.
This can include a wide range of things from providing a lawn mowing service to an electric recliner chair etc to make the clients life more manageable.
So firstly the person undergoes an assessment by a service provider and then their application is forwarded to and then assessed by Centrelink ,
its hard to understand but its not really a means test , and some really quite wealthy people qualify when at times some needy people are rejected.
So I have been given a new local client to provide respite care ,that lives close by and he has in the last ten months developed both Parkinson;s disease, and also lewd body dementia and a few other medical ailments.
I guess I need to name my client for the exercise, I think that is proving more difficult than I thought but I have come up with the name of Max.
SO HERE IS MAX`S STORY
PART 1
I personally have had nothing to do with these conditions before, so I know nothing about them, but ill learn as I go.
I have had my first visit to meet Max last week for a period of three hours.
We seemed to hit it off pretty easily and soon his wife was comfortable so she left to go into town.
That left just me and him to chat about things and he took me to show me around the house that he had provided for his family.
He took me to a huge lounge room with a big dining table in it and a massive couch going right across it with a big tv next to the wall.
He invited me to sit down and we looked towards the tv and as we were chatting he told me that he was fine and in good health last Christmas, and in this short time his condition had deteriorated to what it is now .
Max said to me see that television Curly , I would watch it if I only I could turn it on.
I was instantly saddened and I was beginning now to already learn more about Parkinson’s disease.
Then we went out to the front yard and onto to a scruffily cut lawn ,and he explained that he also couldn’t operate the ride on lawnmower properly anymore, and then we walked toward the mailbox and I noticed that it had a lock with a key in it and I thought to myself that this will be interesting .
I let Max fiddle with it for a few seconds then I helped him open and remove the lock and I flipped open the lid and ,there was one letter in the mailbox ,so I quickly grabbed it and handed it to Max , I then helped him replace the lock on the letter box and we headed inside.
I sat in the lounge room and Max went to the kitchen , a short while later he came into the lounge letter in hand with a steak knife jammed into the envelope, he handed it to me, with his hands shaking quite a lot and asked me could I open it?
I said sure and I easily slit the envelope and I then handed Max the letter.
He looked at it for about 20 seconds and then he said I to me ,I cant read this so can I read it for him and tell him the bottom figure?
So I did just that ,and it grew my understanding of Parkinson’s a bit more but Max also has a few other issues going on but right now his whole world has been turned completely upside down and with no real way out , it must be so frightening for Max and his family but I’m sure we will get to cover those sort of questions that effect Max as time goes by .
I haven’t had my second visit with Max yet but I guess just the way that I am and that I think about things all the time and I was driving along in the car today when I thought about Max and the difficulties that he faces with day to day living and even though im not tech savvy , I thought that maybe his package can set up like a google smart house for him .
This would enable Max to be able to easily operate electronic devices like lights, airconditioners, locks and of course the stereo system and smart tv .
It wont fix anything but it would maybe give Max back some of the independence that Parkinson;s disease is so cruelly taking away .and make some improvement to his day to day living and his sense of independence for a while.
Its well worth considering so ill mention it to him and his wife to take up with his case manager for consideration , but I believe that it will fall within the guidelines and hopefully become a reality for him and just brighten up his day.
Cheers and good mental health
Curlyg