My husband has had memory problems a good portion of our marriage. We have been married 50+ years. He has had at least 2 concussions from automobile accidents. About 10 years ago he was diagnosed with vascular dementia, following some TIA’s. He was begun on Aricept and Namenda. I couldn’t really see any improvement. He stopped taking the meds of his own accord. He has now begun using words that aren’t real words, having blank stare episodes, and forgetting lots of things. He saw another neurologist who said he has mild cognitive impairment and restarted the two meds. I might see some improvement but he still has these episodes of confusion. He never talks to me and sits in his recliner most of the day doing nothing. If I try to engage him in conversation, he acts like a toddler, pouts, and goes to bed. I get the silent treatment for several days. I still work 12 hour shifts at the hospital as a nurse. I work PRN, but sometimes those hours add up to 3 days a week. I’m trying to balance work and home alone without help. He gets very mean if I ask him to help out with the chores. My sister keeps telling me I should retire (I’m almost 70) but work is my only saving grace. I have no friends outside of work and church and I pretty much keep everything bottled up inside. I’d like to do some traveling but he’s no fun to be with on a trip, so I just go alone with a travel group. There has to be more to life than this.