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Because of reduced medication, Father has a lot less hallucination, but he is still quite confused. (Hallucination is the side effect of Parkinson medication.) The reduction in his medication does not seem to help much to improve on his confusion. I think it is because he is in a completely new environment with no friend that he can relate to . He is suffering from a greater loss of short term memory since I left Ireland. A couple of weeks after I left Ireland his condition has deteriorated a lot. The doctor in Ireland stopped his medication Artane (for tremor) .......
I am more concerned with his mental health. He used to have a large support network of old friends and past students. Without them, he has lost a lot of mental stimulation. In his current state, he is incapable of making new friends. Hence he is now an isolated man left with only past memories.
The nursing home is a good one if he is more mobile and not so confused. All patients on the same floor are high dependency care patients. Very few patients talk. Nearly everyone wears an expressionless face. When he was first admitted, he was among the better patients. He has since gone downhill too rapidly for the normal slow progression of Parkinson.
The nurses are all very kind to him but he sometimes talk to them in Cantonese. He has been associated with Chinese for the last 50 years, so I think it has become second nature to him. He is more Chinese than Irish! The problem is he does not realise that he is talking in Chinese and can be very frustrated when other people do not seem to respond or just ignore him.
He has a lot of friends in Sydney and Hong Kong than Ireland. Over in Ireland, he gets physical nursing care in the nursing home but no mental stimulation, interaction with normal people and emotional support. May be some old boys in the medical profession can suggest ways of improving his psychological, mental and emotional health. ....... Can someone please help him to have a better quality of life for a bit longer?
Theresa Lee
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