Caring magazine 46 Caring July 2017 | Page 9

Connect with other carers: carersuk.org/forum I knew something was wrong but I didn’t know what. Hazel’s driving wasn’t very good after she developed cataracts, but as her sight improved after treatment, her driving didn’t. She wasn’t responding and I suspected her memory was already going. I kept thinking: ‘Why is she doing that?’ That’s when I suggested we both take a memory test that our GP surgery had offered us. She needed further tests before they diagnosed her with Alzheimer’s disease about two years ago. Before Hazel’s diagnosis we were enjoying our retirement. I’m a minister and I was ordained when I was 33 years old. I’ve lived all over the country and I met Hazel when I was a minister in Enfield, London. I’ve been officially retired for over twenty years, but I still do a little bit of work – as ministers do. I take a service locally about once a month and consult on various things that I’m still knowledgeable about. Hazel’s health is pretty good right now, but I know it’s going to get much worse. Her father had Alzheimer’s but it was only diagnosed in the post- mortem, so we both know what’s to come. At the moment she can still be fairly independent. She can make a nice cup of coffee, but she can’t coordinate the cooking. I make our main meals, but sometimes she prepares a few bits on a tray and I’ll carry it for her. Hazel also has coeliac disease and she used to make her own bread, but she can’t manage it now and we get her special bread from the village bakery. I do most things around the house but we have a cleaner who comes in once a week and tidies up. “Hazel’s health is pretty good right now, but I know it’s going to get much worse” @carersuk /carersuk We play Scrabble every night – to keep the old brains going. I also like to relax with a paintbrush and I have an allotment, so in the afternoons I’m out there with the apple trees and keeping an eye on our soft fruit. Hazel doesn’t join me on the allotment – it’s not her interest and never has been. She’s usually fine back at the house reading. Hazel likes to do things on her own, but she doesn’t always remember where she’s got to, and can’t find the way home. We have a good community and she always gets helped home by someone. In that way, I feel she’s secure in the village. There are more challenges to becoming a carer in your eighties. I’m still recovering from my own injuries, which can be difficult. I slipped in wet weather and broke my ankle. I hopped around with 9