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Dealing with a Spouse with a “Mild Cognitive Impairment”
Caregivers: Dementia | Last Active: 10 hours ago | Replies (341)Comment receiving replies
I am wondering if the dementia causes the patient to lose the ability to process talking. My husband is always asking me what people have said. He doesn't hear 3/4 of what I am saying and I either need to repeat many times or he just ignores it. Recently he had his hearing tested and they said he is fine and doesn't need hearing aids. Maybe he is able to process just one word at a time. It is so frustrating! Finding this group has been a godsend to me. Thank you all for sharing your stories.
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It's all quite fascinating, if we weren't living it. My husband will see the geriatrician soon, and I have so many questions. In the last few days we've had a lot of company and I notice he has heard everything perfectly, including what I've said. Though later, when we're alone, he goes back to asking me what was just said on the radio or what I just said.
I thought in the beginning of all this, which was about a year and a half ago, we would be partners in dealing with the problem of the loss of short term memory, that it would be a kind of joke for us and we would feel safe in that because loss of short-term memory is not a big deal and the brain scan showed nothing. But I think now that loss of control is a big part of needing to hear things from me. I can't imagine losing your vision and your hearing and realizing your mind is going south all at the same time.
I'm starting to feel like a sort of animated Alexa - he's always asking Alexa what time it is, even if he asked only ten minutes earlier. As the contrarian doctor Nortin Hadler noted, once you hit 85, you're off warranty.