My dad is in mid-level dementia. He can’t make sense of time or what day it is usually. He is basically pretty confused on a day-to-day basis. However, when I went over there today, he was just like his old self before he got dementia. I was totally shocked, is this normal? How long does it last? Will it happen again? Has anyone else experienced this?
Bedridden, cannot read, barely moves a muscle, incontinent, thinks she’s 20 or in her 40s, thinks she’s a student or teacher, claims she’s never heard of family members who send her cards, and asks for her parents. Swears I am not her daughter.
Yet she is incredibly articulate, having lost no verbal skills.
A few times a year the staff catches her trying to climb out of bed. She’s been found in the chair in her room. Once this happened, PT was brought in to encourage her. She told them off and stopped moving again for months.
I never know what to expect when I visit. Maybe 90% of the time she thinks I’m just a friendly stranger. But when she does recognize me, she leans in, locks eyes and rages at me. I flash right back to being a little kid. It’s truly shocking. Fortunately staff and my husband have witnessed it. I want to run out the door and never return. I would have to call that “lucid” because she recognizes me, knows she’s old and yells at me for the usual stuff.
Dementia is BAFFLING!
I am sorry you had to lose your wife in this very painful, very lonely way. But what a gift she also gave you.
Each day is a new day, new experiences, and the unknown.
You're not going to change anything that's happened in the past, what's happening now, and what's going to happen tomorrow.
You're dealing with a disease that has turned someone you loved into someone else. It's difficult from day to day wondering when it's going to end, if it ever does.
Enjoy those days while they last as there will come a day when he will be too far along in his dementia and will no longer be "his old self."