The husband of a woman who lost her battle with Alzheimer's was told by doctors they "had never seen a case as bad".
Michael Dickman, 76, from Wirral, lost his wife, Janet Dickman, on March 15, 2022 after a short battle with Alzheimer's. Janet, who died, aged 75, had only been diagnosed the year prior, on May 24 2022.
Michael said he was shocked at the rapid decline in his wife's condition despite his initial thoughts of Alzheimer's. He told the ECHO: “Jan’s situation was quite rapid in that she became quite uneasy at home and I think once she had the dementia diagnosis, living at home became very difficult.
READ MORE: Early signs of dementia can appear in eyes before any memory problems
“She became so anxious and would wake up in the middle of the night saying she wanted her mum who had passed away.”
The couple, who had two sons together named Andrew and Ian, had met in their twenties and sparks flew from the moment they locked eyes.
He said: “We did everything together. The mass majority of things were done together. When the boys were growing up, all four of us were always together. It's such a big loss.”
But as a result of difficulties at home, Michael's GP recommended that Janet be admitted to an Alzheimer's ward for round-the-clock monitoring.
It wasn't long before Janet was admitted to Macclesfield Hospital's special 'Silk' ward, which provides individualised care to dementia patients.
As Janet's health deteriorated, every visit became harder, but Michael said Silk Ward's staff helped a great deal.
He said: “The visits were quite difficult because sometimes we would go and Janet would say, ‘I don't want to see you today’ or ‘I don't know you’ and become really agitated.
“And in some cases five minutes of being in Macclesfield, we would have to call the nurse for help. Whenever they were on duty, the visits were a lot better because they'd stay with us.”
According to the NHS, Dementia is a syndrome (a group of related symptoms) associated with an ongoing decline of brain functioning. This may include problems with:
- memory loss
- thinking speed
- mental sharpness and quickness
- language
- understanding
- judgement
- mood
- movement
- difficulties carrying out daily activities
There are many different causes of dementia. People often get confused about the difference between Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
Alzheimer's disease is a type of dementia and, together with vascular dementia, makes up the vast majority of cases.
Due to Janet's growing anxiety, she became more ill and lost weight rapidly despite the encouraging help. Doctors said Janet's case was the fastest they had ever seen.
He said: “Once she went down to Macclesfield, she had lost so much weight. She went from a 14 to an eight in the space of three or four months.
"And because there was no food intake and fluid intake and she was getting urine infections and then started to lose her mobility so she couldn't go to the toilet unaided. She effectively needed one-to-one care.”
He continued: “She stopped eating because her anxiety was through the roof. The doctors who were treating her said they had never seen a case as bad as this. It was quite a rare form of the disease in terms of anxiety.
“They tried all the various antidepressants and other medications but nothing helped. Sometimes we would go to meet her in a room and she looked as if she was going to the gallows.”
The experience of Janet's Alzheimer's gave Michael a new perspective on the disease.
He said: “The adverts you see on television show a lady asking her husband, ‘What time are we going out?’ But I don't think that really paints the correct picture because in our experience it was quite difficult.
“Some people that you speak to in the hospital have had the illness for almost 15 years. But Janet was told in May last year she had dementia and died in March this year."
In tribute to his late wife Janet and the wonderful staff at Silk Ward, Michael will be taking part in Alzheimer’s Society Memory Walk in Aintree with his two sons on 3rd September, Janet's birthday.
The sponsored Memory Walks will be taking place across 24 locations this September and October.
To find out more about the memory walk, click here.
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