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Exterior
Garry and Mandy’s home.
Super: APRIL 2012
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[SFX:. Kookaburra]
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00:13
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Garry
and Mandy rounding up chickens
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GARRY
LOVELL: We’re in Christmas Hills. We’ve been here
eight year; we love it.
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00:19
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|
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I’ve
stopped work, a couple of weeks ago. I’m in retirement
early, so
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00:34
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Garry
and Mandy at kitchen table 100%
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Mandy
and I can do all the things we want to do before you can’t
do things.
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00:39
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Garry
and Mandy feeding chickens
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MANDY
LOVELL: Garry has a really rare type of the younger onset
Alzheimer’s disease that is a familial type. So, there’s
a faulty gene, which is responsible for this type of dementia.
Garry’s mother, Jan, started to develop dementia when she
was quite young as well. She was in her 50s.
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00:48
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Garry
and Mandy walking around property
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GARRY
LOVELL: Once she got sick she said to me ‘I hope you don’t
get this and then I asked her why she is saying that, and she said
that her dad had the same thing, his two brothers, and their
sister, and their mother and it went on and on.
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01:13
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So
when she told me that it was kind of a bit of a punch in the head,
sort of thing, because I didn’t know anything about it.
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01:35
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Garry
and Mandy working in vegetable garden
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MANDY
LOVELL: In 2001, Garry had a gene test when it became available
and found out that he was gene positive, so he knew that he would
also get this disease.
GARRY
LOVELL: Yeah, I’ve just always wanted to know, because I
think you can plan your life better, that’s all.
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01:43
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Garry
and Mandy in kitchen 100%. Super:
GARRY AND MANDY LOVELL
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Like
if you’re going to get sick then you change your thoughts
about what to do, when to do it, and so that’s what we’ve
been doing anyway.
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02:02
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Mandy
and Garry with dogs in garden
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MANDY
LOVELL: He really wanted to make sure that I had an understanding
of what our lives were going to be like. He said to me ‘I
really understand if this is too much for you, and if you can’t
do this,’ but I was madly in love with him, and there was no
way that that was going to change my mind.
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02:26
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Garry
and Mandy in kitchen 100%
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GARRY
LOVELL:
Well, I’m hoping that they’ll find some kind of drug
that might slow it down or even stop it, so I am kind of positive
to think like that, which doesn’t make you feel doom and
gloom all the time, so that’s always a good thing to think
about if you are feeling a bit gloomy; there’s a lot of
people doing a lot of work trying to find something, even if it
just slows it down. I mean that could happen any time… and
be positive. I don’t know. That’s what I’m doing
anyway. I can recommend it to all those people who are watching.
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02:42
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Freeze
frame GRAPHIC CARD over: There are two types of Alzheimer’s
disease.
Garry has a rare form of younger onset Alzheimer’s
that is passed through families.
The other type is usually
diagnosed in people over 65. It is not an inherited condition.
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|
03:36
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Close
on yellow flower
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03:56
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Brian
hanging out washing
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BRIAN
FISCHER:
It’s
very difficult coming to the realisation that you can’t do
as much as you used to be able to do. I can’t put a date on
it when it really became difficult. I was losing the zest, the
zoom, the desire to go and achieve things that I knew I could
achieve.
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04:00
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Brian
100%. Super:
BRIAN FISCHER
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Then
you stop three or four things, then you think, ‘What am I
doing? I don’t do anything any more. It’s like a
circle all the time.
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04:23
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Brian
hanging out washing
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HEATHER
FISCHER:
Every
now and again, when Brian feels bad about himself and says, ‘Oh
maybe I should go somewhere because it’s not fair on you, I
just remind him that the diagnosis was
|
04:32
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Heather
100%. Super:
HEATHER FISCHER
|
our
diagnosis, that it’s not just him. It’s something that
is in our life that we need to deal with.
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04:48
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Brian
sitting on bed looking out window
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I
remind him constantly that he is Brian Fischer who happens to have
Alzheimer’s, he is not Brian Alzheimer’s.
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04:57
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Heather
enters bedroom
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Because
Alzheimer’s could take over your whole life if you let it.
HEATHER
FISCHER: Morning. Did you sleep well?
BRIAN
FISCHER: I did. I did. I did. What’s on today?
HEATHER
FISCHER: Tuesday… just around the house today and we might
go out this afternoon and do some shopping, this afternoon.
BRIAN
FISCHER: So I get in to my good work clothes, or whatever?
HEATHER
FISCHER: Yes. Good work clothes.
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05:06
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Brian
at wardrobe. Heather assists him
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BRIAN
FISCHER: Thought I might go down the street. Need some help
please.
HEATHER
FISCHER: Brian's unable to make choices. I was noticing that he
was standing for ages in front of his wardrobe not knowing what to
put on. On bad days, he may stand there and not be able to choose
that. In which case, I just quietly take them out and put them on
the bed for him.
BRIAN
FISCHER:
Heather
keeps me going.
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05:30
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Dressing
sequence continues
|
I
feel very guilty that that I am the cause of a dampening of her
enthusiasm.
HEATHER
FISCHER:. Do you know where your socks are?
BRIAN
FISCHER: Hopefully.
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06:05
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HEATHER
FISCHER: Try the right-hand drawer.
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Close
on Heather
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Just
on the right-hand drawer. Next drawer to the right.
BRIAN
FISCHER: This one?
HEATHER
FISCHER: Yep. I think you might find them there.
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06:13
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Dressing
sequence continues. Brian at drawers
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BRIAN
FISCHER: Socks?
HEATHER
FISCHER: And undies. Right on the top.
BRIAN
FISCHER: Oh beautiful. Thank you.
HEATHER
FISCHER: All done.
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06:18
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Dressing
sequence continues.
|
HEATHER
FISCHER:
Brian
was an academic. He held down very high positions during his
lifetime. He was a principal at the age of about 30 and he became
a district inspector at 37.
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06:23
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|
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HEATHER
FISCHER: Don’t forget to have a shower.
BRIAN
FISCHER: Oh. Okay.
HEATHER
FISCHER:. He then went on to manage school support centres.
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06:37
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Brian
into bathroom
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He
was in charge of over 300 schools. There was nothing he couldn't
do. And he fitted so many things into a day. He could work on two
or three things at the same time.
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06:46
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Brian
and Heather at shopping centre
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He
gave up Rotary, he gave up tennis, he was reluctant to volunteer
for things that he used to volunteer for, he stopped accepting
invitations to places.
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06:59
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Brian
and Heather shop for fruit and veg
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And
as well as that, I noticed that he kept losing a few things, and
this was about 2000, 2002. He was falling asleep at a table, just
falling asleep for no reason.
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07:20
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|
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The
psychiatrist decided that he really didn’t need a neuro
psychological test, that he was really just having some problems
adjusting to retirement.
|
07:32
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|
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HEATHER
FISCHER: Could you grab me two oranges please? Just two oranges
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07:41
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HEATHER
FISCHER: It just got worse for him.
|
07:52
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We
had three awful years of tension and friction and a feeling of
absolute hopelessness.
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07:59
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|
|
Twelve
months ago, Brian was getting so frustrated that he started
becoming a little physically aggressive, which was just not him.
And he would be angry and throw things.
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08:07
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Heather
100%
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And
on one occasion, he actually hit me across the face, which was
just devastating for him because he’s a kind, gentle man who
would not approve of that in anybody whatsoever.
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08:20
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Brian
100%
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BRIAN
FISCHER:
I’m
embarrassed to talk about it. I’m ashamed to talk about it.
But yes, I have hit Heather. She tried to help me with something
once and put her hand up towards my face, and I said, ‘Don’t
do that.’ I don’t know why. It’s just not me.
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08:33
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Brian
and Heather down hallway into kitchen. Unpack shopping.
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Here
was I hitting the person I loved, hitting my best friend. She puts
herself out so much to help me and I’m starting to get
physically violent I suppose.
|
09:10
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HEATHER
FISCHER:
Afterwards
he would come and just cry. And he would just say you don’t
deserve this. I don’t deserve this. I’m saying those
things, but I know, deep down I know that I love you and that
we’ve got everything going for us. Why is this happening?
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09:26
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Car
park. Suzie walking into memory clinic and greets Dr Sherry Watson
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SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN: I am 58 years old and last June I was diagnosed
with younger onset dementia. About three years ago I started to
notice little things. Language - just occasionally, you know,
words weren’t there.
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09:49
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Sherry
and Suzie walk down corridor
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At
work, my job as a receptionist, I had trouble with new technology.
I would notice that I had a lot of spelling mistakes, or I had
multiples of the same letter in a word that didn’t belong
there. I went to a GP and the first time it was very much pointed
out to me ‘Oh, they’ll all be just symptoms of
menopause.’
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10:19
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Sherry
and Suzie into consulting room
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It
was getting on towards two years. And yeah, I guess frustration,
and just not having any answers, I kept persevering. And finally,
I was given a referral to the Cognitive Dementia and Memory
Service - but I call it the memory clinic - at Barwon Health here
in Geelong.
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10:47
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Suzie
undergoing language/memory tests
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DR
SHERRY WATSON: Suzie was diagnosed
with
younger onset dementia in June last year.
In
particular, a variant, one of the frontotemporal dementias, and
that involved testing her memory.
|
11:12
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Not
just her straight recall but her ability to manipulate information
in her mind. Very specific language testing, her understanding of
the words, her ability to retrieve words. Her ability to describe
concepts and her ability to imagine situations.
|
11:27
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Suzie
and Sherry Watson
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SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN: I am so grateful I found you. I do l often
wonder Dr Watson if I still would have a diagnosis if I wasn’t
referred to the memory clinic.
DR
SHERRY WATSON: There was a whole team of people that assessed
Suzie, including neurologists, GPs, myself, various allied health
people and neuro psychological testing - particularly important.
|
11:48
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DR
SHERRY WATSON: What’s happening with your symptoms these
days?
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN: I think it’s, luckily, a fairly slow
degeneration. I know my brain feels more chaotic.
|
12:11
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I
still have that slowness of thinking about how the words—
DR
SHERRY WATSON: You’ve really got to make an effort to get
the right words out.
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN: Yeah, exactly.
|
12:26
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DR
SHERRY WATSON: It can be quite difficult to deliver a diagnosis of
a progressive degenerative disorder to anybody, but particularly
in somebody Suzie’s age.
|
12:34
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Sherry
100%. Super:
DR SHERRY WATSON
|
Everybody
wants to know, how long have I got. What’s the rate of
progress? And the answer is invariably- don’t really know.
|
12:47
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|
Suzie
and Sherry Watson
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SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN: People see you functioning, so they have
trouble accepting your diagnosis.
|
13:01
|
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DR
SHERRY WATSON: There are statistics that can say people with a
diagnosis like Suzie’s can last somewhere between two and 10
years. Some people go downhill very, very rapidly. Again,
depending on the flavour of dementia,
|
|
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Suzie
and Dr Sherry continues
|
that
rate of progress can be different.
DR
SHERRY WATSON: Are you cooking?
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN: Yes. Yes, I am.
|
13:17
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|
|
I
had already noticed, and it has increased, recipes that I knew so
well… were starting to go. And you know, I’ll think
about a recipe that I’ve cooked maybe for 20, 30 years…
|
13:21
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|
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DR
SHERRY WATSON: There’s no specific cure nor any specific
drug treatment at this point for younger onset dementia. There’s
a lot of research going on.
|
13:36
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However,
the fact there is no cure doesn’t mean there is no
management.
|
13:48
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Sherry
Watson 100%
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It’s
very important to make that distinction.
|
13:54
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Looking
at MRI
|
DR
SHERRY WATSON: So, we are looking at the front of the brain. We
would be looking at whether there’s any shrinkage of brain
tissue.
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN:
I
guess when you do
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13:59
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Suzie
in consult room. Dr Watson explains MRI
|
get
diagnosed it’s a shock but you also then have to think well,
it is a positive. If I'm going to have it, I know what it is and
I'll deal with it my way.
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14:05
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Freeze
frame Sally. CARD:
Frontotemporal dementia often affects language and behaviour.
As
it develops, the vast majority of people need 24 hour care.
It
is fatal.
|
|
12:23
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Mandy laying on the bed being affectionate with Garry.
Super: MAY 2017
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|
14:40
|
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MANDY
LOVELL: Garry’s now 54 years of age and he has been living
with younger onset Alzheimer’s Disease for about seven years
now. I’m a psychologist and I retired from that work
because Garry’s support needs started to increase. Last
August the decision really had to be made to place Garry in care.
And that was an admission that I couldn’t look after him by
myself at home any more. Garry became psychotic. He also developed
myoclonic jerks, which can make you trip and fall. And he had
those jerks all day and through the night as well.
|
14:50
|
|
Mandy
100%. Super:
MANDY LOVELL
|
It
was 24 hours a day monitoring and it just became too much.
|
15:48
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Mandy
and Garry in Garry’s room at care facility. Mandy shaves
Garry
|
So,
where we are now is an aged care facility and it’s not what
Garry wanted, but there isn’t currently any other choice
available. He wanted to be in a place among his peers. Around
younger people with similar interests and similar music tastes.
|
15:55
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Garry
lying on bed
|
Garry
was always petrified of this happening to him and one of the
greatest things that he was most fearful of was being left alone
and forgotten about.
|
16:22
|
|
Mandy
lying on bed with Garry
|
It’s
really quite tiring and exhausting and it’s very, very
difficult to watch the process of this disease. And the impact
that it has on a person, particularly if you just adore them.
|
16:38
|
|
Garry
lying on bed. Freeze frame.
CARD:
About 25,000 Australians have younger onset
dementia.
Often, they are diagnosed in their forties and
fifties.
|
|
16:58
|
|
Prof.
Ames walking down corridor to visit Garry
|
MANDY
LOVELL: Professor David Ames is Garry’s psycho- geriatrician
and has been since 1995. So he’s worked with us
|
17:11
|
|
Garry
experiencing a myoclonic jerk
|
at
every stage.
PROFESSOR
DAVID AMES: We often see this sort of restless jiggling.
|
17:25
|
|
Mandy,
Garry and Prof Ames
|
How
is going with the myoclonic jerks, the little twitches he gets
sometimes?
MANDY
LOVELL: I think when he is lying down or relaxing we see a lot of
them. Yeah so, they’re still a bit of an issue.
|
17:30
|
|
|
PROFESSOR
DAVID AMES: You feeling alright Garry?
GARRY
LOVELL: Yeah.
PROFESSOR
DAVID AMES: Good. Good. Who’s this here? Who’s with
you today?... That’s Mandy isn’t it?... She’s in
nearly every day.
|
17:42
|
|
|
PROFESSOR
DAVID AMES, OLD AGE PSYCHIATRIST:
Garry’s
got a slightly unusual illness. Probably only two or three percent
of the patients we see with dementia due to Alzheimer’s
disease have familial onset Alzheimer’s disease.
|
18:00
|
|
|
The
majority have late onset or sporadic Alzheimer’s Disease.
|
18:10
|
|
Dr
Ames sitting beside Garry in bed. Super:
PROF DAVID AMES
Old
age psychiatrist
|
Someone
of Garry’s age, who’s in his mid 50s, who’s
relatively healthy, who’s looked after his health through
his life, unless he gets pneumonia, this thing might go on for
some years to come.
|
18:15
|
|
Garry
and Mandy’s wedding photo
|
MANDY
LOVELL: Let’s have some breakfast.
|
18:25
|
|
Mandy
feeds Garry
|
What
have we got? Porridge. You ready?
GARRY:
Yes.
MANDY:
Open. Open. Beautiful.
|
18:31
|
|
|
GARRY
LOVELL: I like it.
MANDY
LOVELL: You like it. Good. That’s great. I’m glad you
do. Great. It’s nice.
|
18:44
|
|
Garry
blows on Mandy, laughs
|
Oh,
kiss… No, blow. [laughs] Misread that one.
PROFESSOR
DAVID AMES: People with dementia are twice as likely to die of
pneumonia as people who haven’t got dementia. They are twice
as likely to die in accidents and that might be anything from
walking in front of a bus to tripping over and breaking your hip.
|
18:56
|
|
Mandy
continues to feed Garry
|
The
treatments we’ve currently got help some people a bit for a
while and they’re certainly better than nothing.
|
19:17
|
|
Prof.
Ames sitting on edge of Garry’s bed
|
Most
people would like to know what they can do to prevent themselves
getting dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease. There’s
a little bit of evidence that control of vascular risk factors,
things like hypertension, high cholesterol, cigarette smoking, may
have a little bit of an impact. And studies that follow older
people through over time seem to find that those who are
physically active, intellectually engaged and socially engaged may
do better over time than those who are not.
|
19:24
|
|
Mandy
continues to feed Garry
|
Mandy
has gone into this with her eyes open. But it’s very
difficult, both to see someone you love deteriorating and the
sheer number of hours that you spend caring for that person.
|
19:48
|
|
|
I
think this has been a very long difficult road for both of them.
|
20:01
|
|
Mandy
and Garry kiss
|
MANDY
LOVELL: Nice kiss. Thanks… They’re the moments
that
I kind of live for I guess, because it is a bit of recognition
that you do know who I am which is quite lovely. It is very hard
to gauge I think how much Garry knows me at times. So I think
there are little moments and times when I think he does, but a lot
of the time now I’m not sure that’s the case.
|
20:05
|
|
|
Generally
speaking, if people are friendly to Garry he will be lovely and
friendly back and I have heard him tell some of the nurses that he
loves them. So I’m not sure that being told ‘I love
you’ is kind of exclusively for me, but I will take it. I
will take it every time.
|
20:48
|
|
Garry
and Mandy hug, lie on bed. Mandy laughing. Fade to black.
|
|
21:15
|
|
Exterior.
Alzheimer’s Australia building
|
|
21:27
|
|
Brian
and Heather drive in, get out of car and walk
|
HEATHER
FISCHER:
After
a very long journey, Brian was last year diagnosed with
Alzheimer’s. Brian’s just turned 79.
|
21:34
|
|
|
My
reaction to the diagnosis was -- good, we have something now that
we can work on. And Brian’s reaction --
|
21:48
|
|
Heather
100%. Super:
HEATHER FISCHER
|
he
said, ‘Thank God I am not a bastard’. So it was that
relief, and we came out of there feeling a million dollars, which
was really quite silly, but it was like, we can do something now.
|
21:59
|
|
Brian
and Heather enter support group workshop
|
The
relationship just came back straightaway. We were now best
friends supporting each other and we were husband and wife. We
were a team together.
|
22:15
|
|
Bernadette
leads workshop
|
BERNADETTE
MILSTED: We are all here for a Living with Dementia Support Group.
|
22:29
|
|
|
Certainly,
for Brian and Heather it was a big step. They took a lot of
courage for Brian to come along to the group.
|
22:36
|
|
Brian
and Heather in workshop
|
He
has been noticing that he can’t do things he used to do as
well any more. He’s no longer that executive in charge, and
responsible and competent.
|
22:41
|
|
|
The
process of the disease in your brain has been going for on 15,
maybe even 20, years. Very, very slowly.
|
22:55
|
|
|
Very
subtle little things; it could be lots of other things, so the
doctors are not all experts in this field, so getting a referral
and being consistent and persistent in following through.
|
23:01
|
|
Couple
in workshop
|
MAN
IN WORKSHOP: But there were changes, especially in language.
WIFE:
Comprehension, trouble making sense of things and trouble working
things out. Problem solving was really difficult.
|
23:13
|
|
|
BERNADETTE
MILSTED:
There’s
all different types of dementia,
|
23:27
|
|
Bernadette
100%. Super:
BERNADETTE MILSTED
Dementia
counsellor,
Alzheimer’s Australia
|
there’s
over 100 different varieties. So Alzheimer’s is the most
common form of dementia that’s diagnosed.
|
23:31
|
|
Workshop
|
It
is what they call a sporadic disease. It affects people quite
randomly. Every demographic of society will be affected with about
the same percentage. We do a lot of work on risk reduction. There
aren’t a lot medications available, but you can do lots of
things in your lifestyle. All those classic things
|
23:38
|
|
Bernadette
100%
|
of
not smoking, limit your alcohol intake, healthy diets, physical
exercise, and every piece of research that comes out re-emphasizes
that physical exercise is probably the number one thing that is
going to lower your risk.
|
24:05
|
|
Workshop
|
BERNADETTE
MILSTED:
It’s not uncommon for me to hear that it takes two years to
get a diagnosis.
|
24:22
|
|
Brian
and Heather in workshop
|
HEATHER
FISCHER: It took us a lot longer to have a diagnosis – it
was 11 years. Our GP first noticed that there was something wrong,
but unlike you - Brian’s language is perfect. His
comprehension was perfect. He can read, write. He is very eloquent
and so therefore they felt there was nothing wrong with him.
|
24:26
|
|
|
BRIAN
FISCHER: When I sat down, he said Mr Fischer, Brian, we have a
diagnosis of dementia and my first word – ‘Bullshit. I
do not have dementia. Old people get dementia. I’m not
anywhere near 80’ – I was 79 I think.
BRIAN
FISCHER:
My
diagnosis has helped me
|
24:48
|
|
Brian
100%
|
come
to grips with some of the things that I’ve always put off
for tomorrow. I don’t need to do it.
|
25:10
|
|
Workshop
|
Now
I would say it’s a pity that all that didn’t happen 10
years earlier and I should have been much more receptive.
|
25:20
|
|
Freeze
frame on Brian. CARD:
Alzheimer’s disease is triggered by clumps of protein on the
brain.
In most cases it is not known what causes this.
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|
25:32
|
|
Suzie
at home. Walks down hallway and answers door. Greets Nicola
|
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN: [to dog] Who’s here? Who is it?
NICOLA
BROAD: Hello. Welcome home.
NICOLA
BROAD:
Suzie
and I have been best friends since we were 18, 19 years old, so
we’ve come a long, long way together.
|
25:45
|
|
|
It
was really hard when Suzie told me that she had been diagnosed
with dementia, because like a lot of people I think of dementia as
something an old person has.
|
26:05
|
|
Suzie
opens bottle of champagne
|
But
I said, “Suzie we’ve got 20 years, you’ve got 20
years to worry about that.”
|
26:17
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nicola
100%. Super:
NICOLA BROAD
|
And
she said, “No Nic,” She said, “This one could be
anywhere between two and eight years to ten years.” And I
think we both shed a tear.
|
26:21
|
|
Suzie
gets box of photos from cupboard
|
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN: I have a job for you, Nicola. We are going to go
through some photos. I am going to get organised to start this
digital photo album.
|
26:32
|
|
Nicola and Suzie go through
photos.
Suzie
pulls out photo of herself and Nicola
|
NICOLA
BROAD: So you want your children?
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN: I do. I want my children, and family. And I
want your children… Oh my God.
|
26:44
|
|
|
NICOLA
BROAD: Oh, dear.
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN: How old is that?
NICOLA
BROAD: I remember I was crying because I was leaving you.
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN: You wouldn’t have been 20 then, would you?
|
26:58
|
|
|
NICOLA
BROAD: No… no.
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN:. That was probably pre-champagne. It was
probably Bailey’s.
|
27:10
|
|
|
NICOLA
BROAD: That was our Gladstone drink.
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN: That was.
|
27:16
|
|
Nicola
and Suzie continue looking at photos
|
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN:. One of the things I want to focus on this year
is to make a digital memory album. It will keep the people that I
love the most, and the people that have meant the most to me in my
life… it will keep them alive. That’s my hope. It
will keep them alive in my memories for as long as possible.
|
27:22
|
|
|
And
I really would love to complete photo albums for my children, Kate
and Sam.
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN: That’s probably one of the last photos
I’ve got of them together.
|
27:45
|
|
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NICOLA
BROAD: So you need to write these things down then, don’t
you?
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN: I know. I should write it on the back.
NICOLA
BROAD: Yeah, on the back of them all, so that you can -- because
in time you won’t remember where they were.
|
27:58
|
|
|
It’s
just hard to imagine that there will be a day that Suzie won’t
remember our past, her life – everything that is in these
photos.
|
28:09
|
|
|
Yeah,
it is hard to believe that that may be the case one day. So it is
important that she does these digital photos, but it is really
difficult to imagine.
|
28:18
|
|
Looking
at photos of children
|
And
all our kids. Little faces. God, the memories. The times we’ve
had.
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN: That’s the five of them together. Yeah.
|
28:29
|
|
Looking
at photos. Suzie gets teary. Nicola and Suzie clasp hands
|
I
can’t comprehend not knowing these faces. How do you come to
terms with not knowing your own children?
|
28:40
|
|
Nicola
hugs Suzie
|
I
love you.
NICOLA
BROAD: I love you too.
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN: We’ll be right. We’ll be right.
NICOLA
BROAD: Well, we’ve just got to do a lot of fun times in the
meantime, don’t we?
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN: Yep, we do. We’ve got to make new
memories. Yeah. Make new memories. That’s right.
NICOLA
BROAD: More memories.
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN: More memories then. More memories. More
memories for the photo album.
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28:55
|
|
Mandy
and Garry in Garry’s room
|
|
29:32
|
|
|
MANDY
LOVELL: Are you excited? Rodger’s coming. He’s coming
to visit you.
GARRY
LOVELL: Now?
MANDY
LOVELL: Yeah, very soon.
GARRY
LOVELL: Who?
MANDY
LOVELL: Rodger. Your friend Rodg.
GARRY
LOVELL: Oh gawd. [laughs]
|
29:40
|
|
|
MANDY
LOVELL: He won’t be happy with that.
GARRY
LOVELL: Oh no. That’s good.
MANDY
LOVELL: It is, it’s really good.
|
29:59
|
|
Rodger
arrives to see Garry
|
RODGER:
Gaz. It’s Rodg. How are you, mate? Good to see you.
|
30:08
|
|
|
MANDY
LOVELL:
There
are a lot of people who find it very, very difficult to come and
visit and spend time in a nursing home.
|
30:14
|
|
Rodger
assists Garry inside
|
It
is very, very confronting but it is really, really helpful for us
when people do visit.
|
30:26
|
|
Rodger
and Garry in Garry’s room looking at photos on wall
|
RODGER
LORD: Look at the photos Gaz. Who’s that? Who’s
that?... Do you want to lie down?
|
30:39
|
|
Garry
sitting on bed with Rodger. Garry starts to lie down.
|
No,
you gotta stay up because we are going to have lunch Gaz ... lunch
won’t be far away. So we’ll have a bit of food…
Come on, Gaz. Up this way. That’s the way. Lean on me. On
ya, Gaz. Good man.
|
30:45
|
|
Mandy
brings lunch
|
RODGER
LORD: I met Garry just after high school. My friendship with
Garry hasn’t wavered, like I’ve always been close to
Garr. When he was diagnosed, obviously it was really hard in the
beginning to come to terms with.
|
31:07
|
|
Rodger
helps Garry eat lunch. Super:
RODGER LORD
|
Just
a little bit of assistance just helps, and just maintaining that
connection with Garry is really important to me. So –
because there’s still Garry there. Aren’t you, Gaz?
|
31:21
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Rodger
feeds Garry
|
You’re
still in there. Here Gaz, try this. That’s it. So there’s
no struggle for me to come in here and help.
|
31:33
|
|
|
It’s
all done with love and that’s what it’s about.
|
31:42
|
|
Exterior.
Mandy and Garry’s home
|
|
31:50
|
|
Garry
and Mandy arrive at home and into kitchen
|
MANDY
LOVELL: I
love
bringing Garry home, and I do it as much as I can. When Garry is
home there is a sort of a sense of familiarity. So it’s
lovely to watch his responses and his reactions to things,
|
31:54
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|
Garry
looking around house
|
particularly
when you know – and he loves having a bit of a look outside
into the garden and having a look and seeing what is in and around
the house.
|
32:15
|
|
|
Having
a bit of a look around? Okay, well you have a look.
MANDY
LOVELL: I’d love Garry to be living here
|
32:25
|
|
Mandy
|
at
home if he was well enough. Yes, that would be great if we could
manage that.
|
32:37
|
|
Mandy
with Garry. She hugs him
|
MANDY
LOVELL [to Garry]: Hi, it’s me. I’m here again. I’m
here again.
MANDY
LOVELL:
I
think one of the cruellest things about dementia is that it starts
to rob you of the ability to communicate. So it’s about
finding different ways to communicate, with body language.
MANDY
LOVELL [to Garry]: You’re pretty cute.
|
32:47
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Garry
walks around house
|
MANDY
LOVELL: It’s really difficult to lose little pieces of the
person that you love. Sometimes that happens quite quickly.
|
33:11
|
|
Mandy
100%. Super:
MANDY LOVELL
|
And
other times you kind of don’t realise that it’s
happened until a little bit later.
|
33:20
|
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Garry lying on bed
Fade
to black.
|
And
I think the hardest thing to witness is watching someone that you
love suffer.
|
33:31
|
|
Brian
and Heather at home with Brian’s list
|
HEATHER
FISCHER: How are you going? Are you checking your list? Checking
your list?
BRIAN
FISCHER: Yeah, I did hang the washing out, actually. I didn’t
tick that.
HEATHER
FISCHER: You’ve made the bed?
BRIAN
FISCHER: Yes.
HEATHER
FISCHER: This one here.
|
33:46
|
|
Brian
unloads the dishwasher
|
BRIAN
FISCHER: Unload the dishwasher?
HEATHER
FISCHER: Yep.
BRIAN
FISCHER:. Haven’t done that. About to do it.
HEATHER
FISCHER: Fine. No worries. Want a hand with it?
BRIAN
FISCHER:
No,
I think I can remember where everything goes.
|
33:59
|
|
Close
on Brian’s list
|
If
I never had this list I would be in a state of confusion.
|
34:10
|
|
Brian
100%. Super:
BRIAN FISCHER
|
I
know the first thing I’ve got to do is to boil the kettle,
but what else was on during the day. I think had to go to the post
office. What else was I going outside for? What do I have to get
dressed for?
|
34:16
|
|
Brian
unloading dishwasher
|
HEATHER
FISCHER:. I reckon that dishwasher works better on the sensor.
BRIAN
FISCHER:. Yeah, I do too.
|
34:31
|
|
|
HEATHER
FISCHER:
Today
is a really good day and the list and everything is working
extremely well.
|
34:38
|
|
|
Now,
on a bad day Brian will wake up and he will just say to me ‘My
head is a fuzz,
|
34:44
|
|
Heather
100%
|
everything
is jumbled. I can’t think. I can’t do this.’ And
he just has a real panic, but it’s explaining that the head
is just mixed up and on those days, we just modify that list.
|
34:51
|
|
Brian
unloading dishwasher. Heather looks at list
|
HEATHER
FISCHER: What’s left on the list?
BRIAN
FISCHER: Hey?
HEATHER
FISCHER: Keep going. Keep going. Sorry to interfere. Sorry.
|
35:06
|
|
Brian
unloading dishwasher
|
BRIAN
FISCHER:
Heather
has been through hell, but the worst part is she’s had to
make so many huge changes because she can’t rely on me.
|
35:11
|
|
Brian
100%
|
I
need Heather on my arm all the time, but I don’t want to
have Heather on my arm all the time – it’s not fair to
her.
|
35:23
|
|
Brian
unloading dishwasher
|
HEATHER
FISCHER: Is there anything you need help with? That you’re
not sure where it goes, just leave it on the bench and I’ll
pop it away for you later on. Okay?
HEATHER
FISCHER: We know we love each other.
|
35:31
|
|
Heather
100%
|
We
know that we have been colleagues and best friends and husband and
wife. We know that the relationship is different,
|
35:43
|
|
Brian
at sink filling glass with water
|
but
I just keep saying to him, “Well, I’m your carer now
and we’ve got a fourth relationship now. The others are
still there -- and they are still there. You still make new
memories.
|
35:52
|
|
Freeze
frame Brian. CARD:
There are no drugs that cure dementia.
Some offer temporary
relief but not all people respond.
There are currently more
than 40 trials in Australia looking for a cure or more effective
treatments.
|
|
36:05
|
|
Ext.
Suburban houses
|
|
36:22
|
|
Suzie’s
house exterior
|
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN:
The
hardest thing was telling Kate and Sam,
|
36:26
|
|
Kate
collects gift bag from bed.
|
but
I knew that I had to do that really early on, so I did that within
a couple of days of the diagnosis.
|
36:30
|
|
Kate
gives gift to Suzie
|
KATE
O’SULLIVAN: I’ve just got you a little something.
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN: It was incredibly hard, because it is not what
you think, at 57, you’re going to be telling your children.
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN [to Kate]: Thanks, darling. You being here is a
great Mother’s Day present.
|
36:37
|
|
Suzie
opens gift
|
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN: We don’t hide things from one another,
it’s so important for me that they know everything about it.
|
36:53
|
|
|
There’s
a chance that I’ve passed on that genetic mutation to both
Kate and her brother Sam.
KATE
O’SULLIVAN: So Mum has put a sample of her DNA, some blood,
in a bank in Melbourne.
|
37:02
|
|
|
My
brother and I have chosen not to test it. I guess because we’re
both still quite young and we don’t feel that it’s
necessary to test it right now.
|
37:19
|
|
Kate
100%. Super:
KATE O’SULLIVAN
|
For
me, I’m not sure that I ever will, I just don’t know
if I want to know. I think the way that I am going to live my life
is assume that I have it and live the best life that I can, but
hope that I don’t.
|
37:28
|
|
Suzie
and Kate on sofa. Kate read card
|
I
don’t think it is anything for me to be too worried about
now; I’d much rather focus on Mum.
|
37:39
|
|
|
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN:
I’ve
told people who I love dearly
|
37:48
|
|
Suzie
100%. Super:
SUZIE O’SULLIVAN
|
that
unless they want a good slap, don’t ever refer to me as a
dementia sufferer. I’m not suffering with dementia, I’m
just another person diagnosed at a younger age, and there is a lot
of people out there like me.
|
37:51
|
|
Suzie, Kate and dog on sofa
Fade
to black
|
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN:. Well, I feel very spoilt. Very spoilt.
|
38:07
|
|
Exterior. Brian and Heather’s
house. Night.
|
|
38:18
|
|
Brian
reading story to grandchildren
|
BRIAN
FISCHER: Ooh, I’s a big bad scary wolf. I don’t want
to talk to him.
|
38:22
|
|
|
CHLOE:
He’s a monster.
BRIAN
FISCHER: Does he look like a monster?
HEATHER
FISCHER: Brian loves
|
38:27
|
|
|
reading
to the children. He also makes up stories about different
characters.
|
38:33
|
|
|
BRIAN
FISCHER: Let me tell you something buddy. Just because I’ve
got big pointy teeth,,,
|
38:38
|
|
|
HEATHER
FISCHER: And the next time he sees the grandchildren they want the
next episode, which was fine except he kept forgetting where he
was up to or even what the story was about.
|
38:44
|
|
Brian
gets notebook from his pocket
|
BRIAN
FISCHER: I realise, because of Alzheimer’s, there will be a
time that comes when I am unable to read. But I still do want to
have that contact with them.
|
38:52
|
|
Brian
with kids lying on bed
|
BRIAN
FISCHER: Do you know Poppy has difficulty remembering some things
sometimes?
CHLOE:.
You missed the best bit.
HEATHER
FISCHER:
My
husband is still my husband, he’s still my friend, he’s
the best he can do. He’s still a dad and a grandad.
|
39:05
|
|
|
BRIAN
FISCHER:. I think so, but I can’t remember.
|
39:19
|
|
Heather
100%
|
HEATHER
FISCHER: Okay, he has his times, but he is still that person. He
just happens to have Alzheimer’s.
|
39:22
|
|
Brian 100%
Fade
to black
|
BRIAN
FISCHER: I’m sure that there must be a time when whatever is
in here doesn’t work and yet a person has their eyes open
and is still breathing…[cries]… Sorry. I can’t
come to the thought of not having, not being able to interact with
my children or my grandchildren. My family… Sorry.
|
39:29
|
|
Suzie
at Pilates class
|
DR
SHERRY WATSON:
There’s
been some good research in other types of dementia that shows that
exercise, particularly exercise in company, can help stave off or
slow down the progress.
|
40:34
|
|
|
PILATES
TEACHER:. I know your brain is wanting to use your arms…
SUZIE
O’SULLIVAN:
What
I’ve taken on is Pilates, which I really, really love. I
can feel it clearing my head as well.
|
40:51
|
|
|
I
started to learn, certainly before my diagnosis, but definitely
after it, the importance of all forms of exercise.
|
41:07
|
|
|
I
am energised. I feel so different than when I walked in. Yeah, I
know I am physically tired, but like Gemma says, something has
switched on in my brain.
|
41:17
|
|
|
They
now believe, you know, what’s good for our heart is good for
our brains. My dementia diagnosis, it is what it is. I can’t
fix it and my form of dementia there is no treatment to take along
the journey,
|
41:28
|
|
Fade
to black
|
so
you only have two options -- to crawl into a ball and let it come
get you, or you just get out there and live.
|
41:46
|
|
Mandy
opens blinds in Garry’s room
|
MANDY
LOVELL: I’m 45 years of age now and I met Garry when I was
28, about 17 years ago. I like to be there when he wakes up in the
morning. It’s really important to me to do to keep up the
connection with him, to keep up the support and just to keep
loving him for as long as I possibly can.
|
42:03
|
|
Framed
photo. Mandy and Garry
|
I
don’t know how long we have together.
|
42:33
|
|
Mandy
and Garry at home
|
[Garry
sings]
MANDY
LOVELL: I don’t know how things will unfold.
|
42:37
|
|
Mandy
100%
|
What
keeps me going I think is just love. He’s my best friend.
|
42:50
|
|
Mandy and Garry lying together
on bed
Fade
to black
|
And
I made a commitment to cherish him and care for him. And I really
want to see that through.
|
43:01
|
|
End
|
|
43:17
|
