May Barbour (and Otto the Labrador)-Remembering Douglas part one

LifeStory

Douglas Barbour and his wife May lived with Douglas's Alzheimer's Dementia for many years .In this podcast May describes noticing early changes in Douglas's memory and how these changes affected their lives .May's background in nursing as well as volunteering at the local day centre meant she had a bit of experience ,knowledge and some insight into the challenge that faced them. Her primary concern was always to protect him and this need to protect also extended to their family, which meant that May was quite reluctant to make use of other support services. With hindsight she feels that she didn't handle things as well as she could have. When Douglas did start going to and enjoying visits to the day centre Mays first reaction was to feel resentful and jealous his happy smile going off in the bus was a reminder of how Douglas used to be. Perhaps this is not an uncommon reaction but it was hard to admit. Living with Dementia for so many years affected their health and well -being however having a family dog continued to be very important for everyone in the family particularly Douglas and May and the current Labrador Otto misses Douglas a lot. He joined us sitting at May's feet, contributing to our conversation with a couple of barks and wagging of his tail against the table leg.