Dementia...

Dementia in a loved one is a cruel thing. Yesterday Mom had a day when I thought that maybe her diagnosis of vascular dementia wasn't correct, that these memory slips were just a part of getting older. Then you have a day like today whereby a woman with an incredible vocabulary can't seem to find a word she's used for over 80 years. You vacillate between wanting to fill in the blanks for her to minimize her frustration; then want to show respect and allow her to find that word herself. Quite simply, dementia is maddening and saddening. If I feel this way, I can't imagine what Mom is experiencing.