The Traveling Kiwi

We thought we would experiment with having mum come up and visit me instead of me going to Christchurch. The concern with her dementia was if she could cope with being in a strange place with no cues that she recognised. Apparently this can trigger increased confusion, so the task was to try and minimise the opportunities for this and try and give her some new experiences. I started with making sure anything I had of hers was out and visible and I made a big notice in her bedroom to say she is at my house and she is on holiday. Ian (brother) flew up with her and she coped very well with the flight. Once here she just loved being around us and someone feeding her chocolate and nice meals. She contentedly took my chair looking out at the view and loved every minute of her holiday. My friend Lee introduced her to her chickens and we visited bubbling mud, small excursions but enough. Just 4 days but we noticed she was becoming more lucid and remembering things that had just happened. Having Ian here meant I could get groceries and manage normally but if he wasn’t here it would become overwhelming very quickly to not be able to leave her alone for a moment. Back in christchurch she knows her home well and I can escape for an hour or two but here it’s a different story. I think I could manage about 10 days so the plan is for me to go back to chch in October and then bring her back with me for maybe a week. She just loved the company more than anything and she always tells me she feels better each time I come down and stay with her. I wish there was a magic solution but it is so full on 10 days every 6 weeks is almost as much as I can handle. At 91 she is healthy and mobile (short distances) pretty good really.

~ by kiwikris on August 29, 2025.

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