Wednesday 18 September 2013

Holidays

It seems that dad has realised that mum's alzheimers is getting worse, probably a lot faster than he expected. He is keen to take mum on a holiday, and seems to want my family to come along (likely for a bit of moral support).  He suggested Asia, which I then had to tell him would likely be unsuitable for mum, with squat toilets, and what not.  When I went to Asia, some years ago, it was an adventure holiday, diving, sleeping in little huts on the side of a hill, sleeping on mats on the floor of some kind of houseboat. It certainly was no holiday for a person with Alzheimers and Parkinsons. I know, that you can go to a 5 star hotel and have a room with no stairs and lounge by the pool all day, but I don't really want to spend that much money to stay in a hotel for a week.

Next suggestion was a cruise. I'm not sure if this is going to happen or not. I'm not sure that it should happen. Mum is prone to anxiety attacks and gets quite agitated when out of her comfort zone. She has panic attacks on planes, so what of a cruise?

Who knows, but it sounds like a holiday that I'll end up needing a holiday when I get home from.  I understand he wants to do things with her before she loses the capacity to do so, but I also wonder if she'll actually enjoy it at all or if she will be uncomfortable stuck in a little box type room, and then feeling judged by the prying eyes of others (we would be going in school holiday time, so it would be busy).  She has tremors, yes, people stare and watch, it is uncomfortable.

I'm not sure I want to go on this holiday. Perhaps I can convince them to go to a caravan park somewhere where you can have the privacy of your own deck chair.