The Dementia Diaries:Tales from an unprepared carer

Before mum died, she spent a few weeks in hospital. My brother travelled down to look after dad for a few weeks. This was really useful as it enabled us to have a very clear picture of the things dad was able to do and the things he needed help with. One day my dad had gone to ask my brother how to turn the oven off. Dad never used the oven, and it wasn’t clear why he had put it on. My parents had a separate cooker and hob. The hob was old and didn’t have the safety features of modern ones. To turn it on, you turn on the gas, then press a separate ignition switch. Although dad did not use the hob, the incident with the oven had rung alarm bells. In terms of risk, although the chance of dad turning on the gas and leaving it on seemed quite low, the potential consequences were too horrific to contemplate. I asked dad’s friends for recommendations and found a local gas plumber. It turned out that the plumber had actually done work for them in the past. The plumber went above and beyond and fitted isolator valves the same day. The cooker and hob are now switched off.