One evening in May 2020, Stuart suddenly felt freezing cold. I checked his vital signs, all seemed to be within the normal range. In the following days and weeks, gradually the symptoms became more frequent. He would start with feeling cold, then roll onto the floor, shivering, holding his head saying “you are hitting me”, “it hurts”.
A year after the dementia diagnosis, Stuart was reasonably stable, but his cognition and memory started to deteriorate. He wasn’t able to put the rubbish in the colour coded bins, flooded the bathroom by leaving the tap on, misplaced house keys.
In July 2018 I resigned from my full-time senior management position in the department of NSW Health Pathology to become a committed carer for my husband, Stuart, who lives with dementia.
From the day of the diagnosis, my learning as a carer began. I was determined to do everything I could to give Stuart the best possible care, by using all the services, education and dementia-related programs available to support us.
