A questionnaire during a health checkup led to a local woman learning that her mother was battling dementia.
“My husband was having some issues, and his doctors sent us to Parkwood in London,” explained Patty Anderson Mullin. “Of course we get there and you have to fill out this questionnaire and I’m going, 'well this doesn’t relate to my husband, but oh my God that's my mom'.”
Mullin’s husband was just overworked and stressed, but the experience was an eye-opening one for Mullin.
“It’s hard because back in the day, I thought things were happening because of old age,” she said. “One of the questions was have you been in a car accident or fender bender in the last six months, and my mom had been in two. If she wanted to be in a lane that she wasn’t in she would just turn into the lane. My daughter would be driven to work with her, and would say oh my gosh mom, you gotta do something, she is going to cause a very bad accident or hurt somebody.”
Christy Bannerman, the Alzheimer Society Huron Perth's public education coordinator and, at one time, was Mullin's counsellor. She says the starting point for each family is different.
“Cognitive function tends to happen so gradually, often as family members we are not quick to suspect oh I wonder if this is Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia,” Bannerman said. “Often when someone is looking at a series of forms or really having to evaluate their loved ones, that's when alarm bells start to go off.”
Dementia is a complex disease because the word dementia is a broad term that describes a set of symptoms that may include memory loss, changes in mood, and difficulties with thinking, problem solving and language. Dementia is caused when brain cells get damaged and eventually die, and Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia.
For Mullin, she would visit with her mother every day and she began to notice more and more things; first starting small with expiring food in the fridge but eventually progressing further.
“At first I thought 'oh my God is it me am I going crazy?', but then I got talking to her neighbours who would see mom wandering around, and they would ask if she was alright,” said Mullin. “Then you start noticing all these things, and you come to the Alzheimer’s Society and come to the courses and you learn it's all part of the process.”
Mullin’s mother was formally diagnosed with dementia in 2017 after going through test after test to rule everything else out.
“What helped me at first was coming to support groups on Tuesday nights,” said Mullin. “I used to leave crying each time thinking oh my God my mom has this disease. The group was really helpful though as you get to hear what other people are going through, and they offer support.”
Dementia impacts everyone differently, so Mullin learned about what some families were going through, and others learned about her mother’s battle. In Canada there are currently four medications to help treat dementia.
“There are over 200 medications currently on second and third stage trials and some are creating a lot of buzz,” said Bannerman. “We are hopeful, because some new medications have been released over the last few years, but none are available in Canada as of yet, due to concerns around side effects.”
There is also work being done on making a tool to test for dementia, in a simple way such as a blood test. Currently the process takes a long time, because doctors want to rule out every possible diagnosis, give patients physical and cognitive examples, and then go through your medical history before conclusively diagnosing dementia.
Mullin’s mother. who is now completely blind, lives in Milverton at Knollcrest Lodge but she is still visited by her daughter multiple times per week.
“Sometimes I just wish things would hurry up,” Mullin says. “It’s like a prolonged, tortuous death, and it's really hard on the family. I’m not even sure she knows she has it; all her life consists of is her sitting in her chair and listening to music all day.”
Mullin visited with her mom everyday leading up to her diagnosis, but her siblings wouldn’t see her as much and didn't fully grasp what was happening.
“They would say there is nothing wrong with mom,” said Mullin. “I would see it, and say what will it take for you to see something wrong with her. Then my sister would take mom for a week, and come back and say there is something wrong with her. And I’d be like, 'really, I’ve been trying to tell you'. The person who seems to be the closest sees the changes first, and then the rest of the family.”
Mullin’s story isn’t a unique one for many caregivers.
“It’s very rare in a family for everyone to approach it in the same way, for everyone to get engaged to the same extent,” said Bannerman. “Every family tries and does what they can in their own way, but everyone has their own challenges.”
January is Alzheimer’s awareness month, and there is a wealth of community activity planned around raising awareness of the disease:
- On January 22, Geriatrician Dr. Alexandrea Peel will discuss Planning Ahead for Medical Decisions.
- On January 28 at 10:30 am at the Stratford Library there is a free screening of the film Dear Audrey, which focuses on dementia
- Senior Safety Session- January 29 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the Burnside Agriplex.
- Winter 2025 Virtual Memory and Aging Program run on Thursdays from January 23 to February 13 from 9:30-11:30 a.m. over Zoom
- Education Hour Programs which are various online events taking place this month, and into March.
Anyone looking for more information about the Huron Perth Alzheimer’s Society can click here.
