By sparkx555 - 03/01/2012 16:07 - United Kingdom

Today, I ignored my phone, as my mother has dementia and calls me 15 or so times a day, thinking each time is the first. I braved horrendous rain and gale-force winds to go to work. Turns out it was work calling to tell me not to bother coming in. FML
I agree, your life sucks 12 025
You deserved it 42 989

sparkx555 tells us more.

sparkx555 7

ok, my mother lives with my brother, she is in the early stages of demetia, she's never left alone, i do everything for her, except answer the phone 15 or more times a day to answer the same questions. i do love her, more than anything, but the phone thing, between her and the nusiance sales calls, I feel a little demented myself! And I could have done with the day off, I would have spent it with her.

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Top comments

picklemonger 13

Time to invest in caller ID!

64 2

Comments

grands138 4

I say cut OP a little slack. Can any of you honestly say that you haven't ignored one of your parents at one point or another? Dementia and Alzheimer's are terrible diseases, and are emotionally taxing on all parties involved.

19 2
Sarahforever 4

My grandmother does the same thing. Believe me... You wouldn't be answering the phone 15 times a day either, especially when each call is an hour long commitment! Once or twice is enough.

6 3
aaliyah99 0

Don't we have phones for a reason? To, oh, I don't know,...ANSWER them!

3 10
sparkx555 7

ok, my mother lives with my brother, she is in the early stages of demetia, she's never left alone, i do everything for her, except answer the phone 15 or more times a day to answer the same questions. i do love her, more than anything, but the phone thing, between her and the nusiance sales calls, I feel a little demented myself! And I could have done with the day off, I would have spent it with her.

32 1
GoW_Chick 14

See and some of you were being rude... There is always two sides to a story.

38 0
docscientist 9

The people here forget there's only a small window of space where you can plead your case. You didn't do anything wrong ignoring one call, it's a taxing and emotionally draining affliction for everyone involved. I wouldn't want to be able to get away with holding people's time hostage if I ever become stricken with dementia.

25 0
usnwife 18

My grandparents got pretty bad, and every time I visited them I would end up there for HOURS talking about the same 5 things over and over, and they forgot almost instantly. When I went to leave they made it out like I had only been there 5 minutes and they never got to see me anymore... I visited several times a week. I ignored a few phone calls, yeah, and honestly they had forgotten they even called about 2 minutes later. It was a very sad situation. It's sad for them, but also for the family. It was just me (at 17) and my mom to take care of them. I grew up fast. I loved them dearly, and I miss them, but I don't miss those last days. They weren't my grandparents anymore, and while I still did all I could it's not fair (and I know they wouldn't have wanted me to) to give up everything in my life for them. I don't blame you at all OP.

13 0
the_bassist__ 15

I get how answering the same questions can be unbearable, but I have a grandmother with the same thing. Not as bad, though. Fifteen times is pretty bad, so I can see why you would ignore it, so FYL. But, you didn't check caller ID, so YDI

2 0
chels1994 11

Wow seems a bit mean to your mom. She can't help it and you ingore the poor soul.

3 18
chels1994 11

In my defense I didn't read the above post until after posting this. Now that OP explained a little more, I'm sorry I pointed fingers and I'm sure you take good care of her

9 1
mrmerino 0

You don't check to see who's calling?

3 5
Roma92_fml 3

People, cut her some slack, imagine having the same conversation (probably long, maybe even an hour) 15 times a day, every single day. Even if she talks for only 30 minutes, it would be 7 1/2 hours a day hearing exactly the same questions and stories. Even the most loving children would go crazy.. As a suggestion, maybe it's time to tell her she has already called that day, or tell her that you're busy if you don't want to tell the truth. That way she can say if it's urgent, or else you can call back later.

9 1
sparkx555 7

lol, for a year I told her on the 2nd and subsequent 10 - 20 calls that she had already phoned, now i just give up. I wasn't expecting people to take this comment quite so serious. With this condition you gotta laugh, or you'd spend all day every day crying!

1 0
sparklecherry 4

Serves you right for ignoring your mom, dementia or not.

3 15