Riddle me this. How is a person with Alzheimer’s meant to answer security questions on a phone call to Vodaphone.?
They don’t
So he goes and buys himself a new phone, signs himself up to something. We can’t find out what.
So I went to see my old man yesterday and tried something a little different which I will upload onto YouTube when I get a chance to make it watchable.
And here is a picture of me and my Dad just before I tried that something different.
*spoiler I tried to interview him*
But during that, I realise he has 2 phones, a nice new shiny one, which I am partly glad for as he loves to take photos out and about of stuff like the beach, flowers, the sky etc. But on the other hand he can’t use it, you know, like a phone.
Also, his other phone has been cut off. And guess what, I can’t rectify it. Because we can’t get past the security questions.
I try calling his new phone and I can’t even figure out how to answer the game that is dragging one symbol one way and the other another. You catch my drift. So he can’t answer his phone he only calls out, and you best hope you are by the phone when he does.
Here is a photo of what it looks like when I call, and to be honest I really didn’t know how to answer the phone myself, I had to call twice to figure it out.
I almost lost my cool completely on the phone. Because I have somehow past the game that is the 3 security questions twice before. Sheer Miracle. And those times father has confirmed on the phone I can speak on his behalf. GUESS WHAT, they don’t have a note of either of these 2 phone calls.
Furthermore, I can’t just say ‘listen he has Alzheimer’s, he doesn’t know the answers’ because my father hasn’t really accepted it as a reality, and would not like that at all.
2 attempts later he can see it has got to me and bless him he just says don’t worry yourself over theses things. And he is gliding past completely the fact he can’t answer the questions or that we need to find out the deal. Which is ok, I completely get how he is coping with it, and that was the best reaction I could have hoped for really.
The only ‘good’ thing I can say to this is that at least he is well enough to go to a shop (supervised this time), so hopefully we can get somewhere that way. But even then, I have already done this once many moons ago, and they pointed me to the phone line because they can’t help in branch. And how many other people does this happen for, for all things in life when trying to care for someone without capacity?
We are an ageing population people!! The stats are genuinely scary for all this kinda stuff now including funding for care homes and how many people are being diagnosed etc. As a society, we are going to have to start finding an easier way to get around this kinda stuff. What upsets me most right now is not his condition, but how the world treats it and deals with it. It gets me every. Time.
