Mum has for some time now, often misinterpreted what has been said to her. Some of this you will see in the ‘Deeisms’. I organised a hearing test as I was sure she’s not had one for years and wanted to see if this was a physical symptom we could do something about.
After a few weeks of organisation (nothing seems to ever be straight forward) we finally completed her tests.
The tester joyfully shared with mum that her hearing was fine & he saw no reason for her to have any kind of hearing aids. Mum was delighted with this news! I was devastated! I told the tester that this had taken place in order to ascertain whether her hearing was the problem or her comprehension. He said that the problem was with the latter.
I took mum, under her request, to the pub to celebrate the ‘great’ news.
Another symptom, another decline but at least a real diagnosis to work with.
About 18 months after this Mum did need hearing aids. The people at my Dementia Support Group were laughing at me saying it was a waste of time as she would lose them. They had leant through experience. Sure enough, I kept on finding them in the bin, under her pillow & in the end one disappears somewhere at home & one at her Day Centre. The problem was that she would go to scratch her ear or something, the aid would come out & because she didn’t recognise it she wouldn’t know what to do with it…..