Aunty Wong’s Story

I now have strategies and knowledge on how to better manage the disease.

Hi. I am Aunty Wong. I was born and raised in Guangzhou, China and I spent much of my adult life in Macau and Hong Kong. I moved to Sydney 15 years ago to look after my daughter and my grandchildren. I enjoy cooking a lot and I have always been a diligent home maker. My family call me a “Masterchef” in Cantonese cuisine.

However, five years ago, when I turned 60, I started to notice that I had become more forgetful and careless. For example, I would go to a grocery store, pay and left all my groceries at the store. Sometimes I would hop on a bus, and totally forget where I was going. It got quite serious to the extent that three years ago, I started a fire in my kitchen, almost injuring myself and my granddaughter. It was a very frightening and concerning incident.

At first, I thought it was only because of my old age. As many Chinese people say, 老不中用 (Translation: You get old, You get useless), I blamed myself everyday thinking I was useless and becoming a burden to my family. I proposed to my daughter that I should return to Hong Kong to give them a peace of mind.

To my surprise, my daughter and my son-in-law dismissed this idea, and were very caring and supportive. They said I should stop blaming myself and suggested I get a check-up and took me to a local GP. The GP was very caring and after running a few tests, she said that I might have dementia and referred me to a geriatrician.

In Hong Kong we call dementia as 認知障礙 (Translation: Cognitive Impairment). My GP and my geriatrician told me that dementia is a brain disease and it is not a normal part of ageing. My geriatrician gave me and my daughter many resources from the website of Dementia Australia to help us better understand the disease.

I was so relieved that my daughter and my son in law were so supportive. Thanks to the advice I received, and the social network my GP has introduced me to (CASS), I now have strategies and knowledge on how to better manage the disease.

I now know it was not 老不中用 (Translation: You get old, You get useless), but “腦”不中用 (Translation: The brain is wearing out). I should not blame myself over a disease I could not control and I was not even aware of! I now go yum-cha every week with my friends and tell them that we should all be more aware of our brain health so we can all live a good life like I am now.