So what if you can't list the months of the year in reverse? Who cares if you can't spell 'world' backwards? You are 82 years old, you've raised six great kids, you've buried your own parents, three siblings and one grandson. You are the rock and the rock star of this family. You taught me to sew, clean, do crafts, treat people well, get joy out of a blooming calla lily. You are my role model.
Dementia is such a terrible word. Does it mean you can't drive yourself to bingo any longer? Will it cut the one tie you have to independence? What does it mean for me? Yes, I am that selfish....what does it mean for me! Maybe the neurologist is wrong....more tests he said, but dementia is what he put in the record and what he wrote on the paper he gave me. More tests. Can you copy this drawing (two pentagrams intersecting)? Okay, she can't draw. Can you spell "world"? - no backwards, he says. I want to yell out - she can't spell, she never could.
What day is it today? "The 34th." She can't hear you, she's confused because she can't hear you very well. I know she knows it is not the 34th, doesn't she?
"Walk down the hall towards me," he says. She looks so beautiful and she is walking really well. Even the neurologist admits it. Soft signs.... maybe the MRI and blood work will point to something different.
I'm not prepared for this.
In twenty years, I'll be 82. Dementia is an ugly word.
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