After tests with the GP, Angela was diagnosed with a mix of Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia in February 2018, following a trip to the memory clinic. It was later confirmed by a CT scan.
“Birthdays were always a big deal and that year she forgot mine for the first time. To go from this fiercely independent woman to somebody who can’t quite remember which of us she’s talking about, we’ve acclimatised to all of that now but those firsts – the first birthday and the first time the name isn’t remembered – would hit hard. I was breaking for months.”
Angela was no longer able to write, nor indulge her passion for reading. “She stopped being able to construct stories in her head and it got to the point where she couldn’t absorb or find any pleasure in reading, so the two things she loved the most were no longer available to her,” says Eugenie.
Then, in 2021, there was a turnaround when Angela was prescribed the dementia drug Memantine. “She began to read again,” remembers James. “She started with a huge novel called The Voyage by Charles Morgan. It’s about 600 pages and she just devoured it.”
Angela herself recalls her return to reading – though not all her new literary adventures were quite such a success. “Since I’ve been better I’ve been getting lots of new books to read and, quite honestly, they’re some of the worst books I’ve ever read,” she smiles. “I keep blaming James.”
Reading wasn’t the only difference. “She was also able to hold a pen and wrote several touching, affectionate letters to our friends,” says James. “Her short-term memory was better, and she was the one reminding me of things, like when to give her painkillers.”
Memantine was effective on some of the physical effects too. “Her hands had become clumsy and she couldn’t hold a knife, but taking Memantine remedied that a bit.”
But while the medication helped considerably, the lowest point was still to come, in 2022. “Mum had a bad fall. She was carrying things – she’d forgotten that she can’t walk and carry stuff at the same time – and fell and hit her head,” says Eugenie. “She found that so disorientating, we just didn’t know whether she’d ever be able to come home or get out of a wheelchair and the pain compounded everything. We got a doctor to put her on a course of morphine and were thinking that we really might be going into the final stage of her life.”
Sarah Carter is a health and wellness expert residing in the UK. With a background in healthcare, she offers evidence-based advice on fitness, nutrition, and mental well-being, promoting healthier living for readers.
