If the dementia she is experiencing is anything like that of my father, she will continue to recognize Jimmy and close family friends. In addition to recognizing and knowing the names of my mother and my sister and myself, several lifelong friends of his would visit regularly and he knew them as well. I'll never forget when my sister's i…
If the dementia she is experiencing is anything like that of my father, she will continue to recognize Jimmy and close family friends. In addition to recognizing and knowing the names of my mother and my sister and myself, several lifelong friends of his would visit regularly and he knew them as well. I'll never forget when my sister's in-laws arrived to spend Christmas with us after 2 years since seeing them (my father was confined to his chair and was unable to speak clearly), my father saw Bob enter the room and said "Hello, Bob". There does remain awareness even when short-term memory has fled, unlike with Alzheimer's.
My dad was similar, Judith. We cared for him 24/7 for almost three years and he always knew us and the sibs.Of course we had challenges with his care, but it truly was a life-changing experience.So grateful he could not process so much of the hateful rhetoric. But it did make me smile when he saw Trump on TV and said….” I do not like that guy.”
Personal story: my maternal grandmother suffered from what the family called “the change of life” but what I think was actually undiagnosed schizophrenia. Anyway as she approached 80 dementia set in suddenly, and the first thing to go was the crazy. For about six months she was the sweetest old lady and remembered nearly everyone and everything except the crazy thinking that had plagued her for decades. But it only lasted six months, and then she started forgetting names and more recent events, and she passed within a year after that. Yet for awhile I had the grandma I had always hoped for.
If the dementia she is experiencing is anything like that of my father, she will continue to recognize Jimmy and close family friends. In addition to recognizing and knowing the names of my mother and my sister and myself, several lifelong friends of his would visit regularly and he knew them as well. I'll never forget when my sister's in-laws arrived to spend Christmas with us after 2 years since seeing them (my father was confined to his chair and was unable to speak clearly), my father saw Bob enter the room and said "Hello, Bob". There does remain awareness even when short-term memory has fled, unlike with Alzheimer's.
My dad was similar, Judith. We cared for him 24/7 for almost three years and he always knew us and the sibs.Of course we had challenges with his care, but it truly was a life-changing experience.So grateful he could not process so much of the hateful rhetoric. But it did make me smile when he saw Trump on TV and said….” I do not like that guy.”
I feel the same about my parents not being here to see the devolution of democracy that too many espouse.
Personal story: my maternal grandmother suffered from what the family called “the change of life” but what I think was actually undiagnosed schizophrenia. Anyway as she approached 80 dementia set in suddenly, and the first thing to go was the crazy. For about six months she was the sweetest old lady and remembered nearly everyone and everything except the crazy thinking that had plagued her for decades. But it only lasted six months, and then she started forgetting names and more recent events, and she passed within a year after that. Yet for awhile I had the grandma I had always hoped for.
Hugs. My father had a temper at times and was, at times impatient and autocratic, all of which 'burned off' in his later years of dementia.