I have mentioned before the words of a Consultant at the Memory Clinic following Maureen’s diagnosis: ‘You will have to get used to the new reality.’  At the time I hadn’t got a clue what he was talking about.  Eighteen months down the road and Maureen’s reality can be grasped from her words below:

• ‘Other people keep moving my things from where I have left them.’
• ‘Why do people have children if they can’t afford to buy them clothes.  Haven’t my parents got any money?’.
• ‘Where is my mum?  Why doesn’t she come to see me?’
• ‘Why don’t my children come to see me?  Don’t they know where we live?’
• ‘Have any of my family ever been here to this house?’
• ‘How do I know we are married?  Where is the Marriage Certificate and wedding photos?’
• ‘Please tell me where we met?’
• ‘Where are the other people who own this house?’
• ‘Do the children know where we are going today?’
• ‘Are you going to work today?’
• ‘What day, time, month or year is it?’

The above list is only a snapshot of the new reality.

The Counsellor at our Medical Practice puts it in a nutshell.

Dementia means having no concept of PLACE, PERSON or TIME.