dolly, you're right this is a terrible disease!! I'm in the process of placing my 63 year old husband in a MC facility because his dementia has progressed faster that i thought it would and I can no longer take care of him by myself AND still enjoy the little bit of memory he has left. He also has progressive primary aphasia... so the communication is almost non existent, because what he DOES say really doesnt' make any sense. So there really is no more conversations about anything. He might start out with joining me in a conversation but it quickly turns into a lot of gibberish or something totally different. Not to mention the angry tendencies he has started to show. If he doesn't like something I say to him, like "time to put your seatbelt on before we go" he will verbally lash out to me sometimes with swear words and this very mean look on his face. His response to alot of the anger is "I know how to do it" or "You don't need to tell me...I KNOW!" and a lot of other angry repsonses.
I was told in the beginning that caregiving is hard...i just didn't know HOW hard. He was diagnosed in 2021 and i'm already having to make this decision when I thought I would have more years with him home with me. I've had and am still having alot of sleepless nites about this but I remind myself that this is going to be best for both of us. He will be around others that are going thru the same things (and he has mentioned on occassion that he wants to be around "peoples" that are like him)...i admit, I have kept him isolated but didn't realize it fully. I feel that having someone else be his caregiver will enable me to reap the benefits of having my husband back, if only for a moment. and enjoy him once again...and let him take his frustrations and anger of someone who is trained for this type of thing. I truly believe that persons that work with dementia and alz patients do so because of a "calling" not just a job.
Sending support and hugs your way!!