A hard Beginning of My Life

February 2009
My father has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. My mom was telling me about all the symptoms of it and what it will cause in the future. I wasn’t too worried about it because I didn’t know what it was. My name is Tristan Hancock, I am 15 years old, and my dad has Parkinson’s and he has lbd. I have 2 older sisters and my mom. We didn’t see any signs of change for a year, but in March 2010, we started to notice he was losing his facial expressions. But nothing bad had started yet. My dad is in his early 50s and he is still alive today in February 2013. But things have changed ALOT since 2009. Around June 2010, he started to lose his memory and would get kind of confused. He had to retire from his job in Texas oil fields because he couldn’t drive well anymore. But in June, we started to have to help him with small things like showing him where the bathroom was or tying his shoes. These were just minor things, but it was just the beginning still. The early stages had started.

December 2010.
Things are changing fast. He keeps getting confused about random things but still nothing big or bad. He just keeps saying random stuff about work but we would tell him that he doesn’t work anymore and it would get through to him easy still. He didn’t talk about anything in work for about 6 months.
Around September 2011, things started to get bad. He would start getting angry, hallucinate family members and other people from work, forget when we were then realizing who we were, and go into random panics from his hallucinations. It was kind of easy getting him to calm down. But 2 weeks after was when the really bad stuff had started. He would threaten my mom, think that she was someone else, or say things about a crazy person who looked just like her. One time he didn’t know who I was at all and that really bothered me because he is my dad and I have known him my whole life. That was the start of all the memory loss and anger. That night was the night I had finally looked up all of the Parkinson’s and lbd symptoms. I started to cry too after reading what all would happen. My mom showed this website and told me that a lot of these stories are like the exact same thing that we are dealing with. It was kind of better to know we weren’t the only ones having to deal with it. But of course it is a bad thing that so many other people have to go through its course. It’s not a wonderful thing at all. But from that night the confused stuff and lost stuff and anger just got worse. There are some days where you can say that he doing good. But when he starts the sun downing, it’s not fun.

In early 2012, we had to help him with so much. We had to help him find the bathroom, put his shirts pants, socks and shoes of him, and had to help get in and out of chairs. He was still strong and could do so much and it wasn’t a good thing because of what he could do when gets angry, lost and confused. It was scary at night. He would be the meanest man alive one night then the next day he wouldn’t remember anything at all. One of my sisters was gone to San Antonio, I live in Vernon Parish, LA by the way, and my other sister was in college. It was just me my dad and mom at home. Around the same time all the anger and sun downing would begin, he would also start saying he wanted to go home. He would think that he was dropped off and abandoned at this place every single day. He still does this every night up to today. One night it was really bad. He was going on about how he was abandoned again, but we couldn’t get through to him. He was seeing us as horrible people who forced him stay never leave our home. He would keep saying something about these credit cards and checks and it wasn’t making any since. He got so angry that he pushed my mom, went out the door, and went straight to the highway. It was 10 pm so there wasn’t that much traffic. Thank god. My mom chased after him because he was about to walk into the road and not move. She grabbed him and he got really angry and kept trying to hurt her. He thought he was getting attacked. My mom was panicking and was I. She kept telling me to call the cops but I was too scared. She quit telling me to call the cops and get hell. So I quickly ran across the street and got my neighbors help. Luckily one of them is an army guy so he could help get my dad back up to the house. My mom managed to get him back in our fence while I was gone. And by the time my neighbors got there, my dad just fell into their arms and couldn’t stand up. My mom started just crying really hard. I just stood there. That was the worse night we had ever had. Day after that, he didn’t remember anything that happened that night. As days went by, his diseases progressed. Started with expressions changing, to confused, to wanting to go home even when he was at his only house, to anger, being really lost and even more confused, to having trouble standing up, to talking really quietly, to always being slumped over, to never sleeping at night but taking naps during the day. It’s to the point to where we are going to have to either hire someone or put him in a nursing home because my mom only gets about 30 minutes of sleep at night. He never listens to us anymore, never eats or sleeps, never quits talking, and he will get really anger when he wakes up for no reason and takes it out on us. I am so stressed to where I’m so close to hitting him but I will never get to that point. It’s come close to it but i will never hit him because I will say to myself, it’s not the real him. It’s his disease and he can’t control it. It’s not his fault.

Today is February 6, 2013, and he is completely lost. He hasn’t slept is about 5 days but he is still walking around. I don’t know how he does it. He won’t just sit down and stay. He was been completely lost and confused today. It’s nothing but anger and stuff about work. We can’t talk to him because he ignores us and doesn’t notice who we are. I have gone beyond my stressed limit. I have never been so angry in my life. I try so hard to control it but I’m too stressed now. After 10 minutes of standing outside, my mom came and talked to me. When she started to go back inside, I just burst out crying for 10 minutes. I couldn’t take anymore. Its just like my dad is already gone and he is possessed by the disease. I’m having to stay home now. I’m starting home school so I can stay home. If you are reading this, just saying, be prepared for what lies ahead if your loved one or someone you know has LBD or Parkinson’s. It’s not an easy trip. I’m 15 years old and I will say that you will need as many people as you can get to help. We weren’t prepared but people are still helping us in money. You will definitely need that one person who will never leave your side no matter what happens. That person is my mom. I wish I could say more about it all but its 5 am and I’m too tired and stressed to think of anything else. I will post another story on here soon about what has happened between today February 6, 2013, to whenever I get back on. Also I’m not too good of a writer right now because I’m using a small phone to do this. Until next time, good luck and DONT LOOSE FAITH! I was to the point to where I was losing faith fast but I still pray and hope for the best.