Dementia Transformed! An Angry Grandma turned Happy!

It has been two and a half years since my grandma had a stroke and the family has been through a lot since than. I stopped writing for a while because Unfit Runners have fallen into a routine running the same old Marina Bay route almost every week and I was occupied with taking care of my love ones who were falling prey to one disease or another. 

Let's continue where I left off...

If you recall from my earlier articles, grandma was an angry dementia patient. Swearing, yelling, biting and kicking family members were routine affairs and the family went through many trials to adapt to an angry dementia grandma who was totally unpredictable. The doctor assure us that this stage of the dementia will eventually come to pass and she will transit into a calm and happy dementia patient.

The time of transition came 22 months later...

It was in the Autumn of 2018 that grandma got admitted into Changi Hospital for a serious bout of lungs infection. She stayed for more than 2 weeks before being discharged and her behavior totally changed after she was discharged.

Firstly, she became too weak to venture upstairs anymore and we bought a new bed to be placed at the first floor. She was so weaken by the infection that she just kept sleeping... and sleeping till my sister was worried that there was something wrong her.

Where did the energetic and angry grandma go? Her behavior seemed to be abnormal as compared to the time before the hospitalization and we decided to send her in for more checks, but she was given a clean bill of health.

Over time, her health started to improve and she was able to perform normally again. However, we noticed a significant deterioration in her memory and she has lapsed into her younger. My dad now became her dad. I became her son and my niece became her grand daughter. It seems like she has also forgotten about how she was like before her stroke and that lost memory also removed her anger and depression of being sick and disabled.

She has became a happy dementia, glad to spend her time, eating, sleeping, watching television and during rare mornings when her sanity was restored, attempted to read the newspaper.

Her relationship with our helper also improved significantly as she now sees her as her close friend who takes the best care of her and stopped being angry at her for usurping her role as the head of kitchen and a waste of money. The only downside is that her bladder has weakened a lot and she always seems to forget about having to visit the toilet 5 minutes ago. My poor helper has to resort to sleep beside her in the living room, to prevent her from getting hurt during the frequent visits to the toilets in the middle of the night.

The family was glad to have grandma transformed into a happy dementia patient, though we were also sad as we understood that her dementia has progressed to the next stage. At least, she is at peace.