My father has Parkinson’s with Lewy bodies (dementia). When his dementia takes over he remembers his children, grands and great grands. But not my Mother. We have tried everything to get him to recognize her. It works for a time but the next time he’ll come up with another reason why he doesn’t recognize my Mother. We would love incite and help with this as well. Thank you so much.
My grannie would remember me and tell me that her daughter never comes to visit her, even though she was sitting across the table.
You just have to realize that it is the disease and pretty soon he won't remember anything, so you learn to be in the moment, give them love and help them feel cared for and have some fun.
Welcome to the forum.
Thank you for clarifying your question. You can go to www.alzheimers.org.uk and they have an article called 'I Want to Go Home' - What to Say to Someone With Dementia - mainly point #1 because some of the rest of the article applies to someone who is living in a care facility and says they want to go home. The first point explains what "home" actually means to them which might be helpful in how you handle it.
Also, when you go to the website I mentioned earlier you will find it under the "Get Support" drop down menu and from there go to "Understanding Changes in Behaviour" and it's the last one under that heading before you can click on "more".
Due to the virus I haven’t been able to see him since March other than some window visits. I’m a little familiar to him but we’ve lost our connection now.
Thats the thing with dementia. People can’t re learn things. As memory slips away it won’t come back. My mom died two years ago. I thought he’d forgotten about her but one day recently he told a caregiver he was dreaming about L, his wife. You never know what might bubble up then be gone again.
So be gentle with you dad. I know its heartbreaking but you have to have lots of patience to get through the repetitive things and the memory loss.
I know this is upsetting when your father is able to at times remember all the family members except your mother. I would recommend you go to the website
www.dementiauk.org and read "Things to Try When Someone With Dementia Stops Recognizing You". Theirs an explanation along with a whole slew of tips as well as a nurse who has a video you can watch called "What to do When Someone Doesn't Recognize You".
As for your dad wanting to go "home" daily to a place that they lived 48 years ago - they remember things from their past more easily than in the here and now. I'm not so sure there is a way to "slow down" that part of his dementia.
Hope this helps or at least gets you started and heading in the right direction. Let us know how it goes and good luck to you and your family!