TOUGHEN UP AND GET ON WITH IT

I have always been told that I am a strong person and I like to believe this is true, but boy am I being tested!  I trained as a nurse and interestingly enough I gravitated towards the elderly -I just love them and there are many patients that I remember that I nursed, who remind me of my husband.....wow, is it standing me in good stead now! Amazing how life works!  I reckon my husband did well in choosing me as his wife. So, what is the plan for him and our family.......

ACCEPTING THAT MY HUSBAND HAS DEMENTIA

It was one thing to find out that my husband of 57 was diagnosed with Dementia, but I think it has taken me at least 2 years to actually accept and believe it. Sometimes he can seem so "normal" when he talks to people he hasn't seen for a long time or has brief conversations with people in passing.  They will say to me "he seems fine".  Oh how this can make you feel even worse, as you clearly know that he is not fine, hence the lonely illness. I wonder if I have truly accepted it?

EARLY ONSET DEMENTIA-THE DIAGNOSIS

Our family has found ourselves faced with a very sad and lonely illness - Dementia!  Just over 2 years ago, my husband who has just turned 59 was diagnosed with a very rare form of Dementia called "corticobasal degeneration". I was told by a neurologist that it is not inherited, although, I remember his grandfather very well who was supposed to have Alzheimers and it seems to me, that he may have had the same thing! For a long time prior to his diagnosis, I knew something just wasn't right.  I thought he was depressed, but he also showed signs of confusion with spatial awareness.  The first experience with this was when he walked straight off the wall outside my daughter's school.  Another time when we were scattering my mom's ashes on the cliff paths, we suddenly looked around and he was not with us, we found him wandering around the parking lot.  The diagnosis was shattering to our family and his friends and I would like to share this journey for him, myself, my children, friends and family and whoever else out there, who might be coping with a loved one who has Dementia...............it's a long road ahead!