Living with Dementia

Four years ago this week we were in Savannah for a 'babymoon' with my family. Also to get our dogs back, which my parents had been watching all Summer for us while we prepared for our baby's arrival. My dad had been more than excited to watch his granddogs, he'd always been an animal lover and he absolutely adored Sabrina. This time was different though, it was almost like therapy for him. I had mixed emotions about taking the dogs back but we were seeing my parents in just a few weeks again anyway because of Michael's birth. We met my parents at a hotel in Savannah, per usual my dad was quiet. I told him if he wanted he could keep the dogs in their room for the weekend, and this seemed to perk him up. It was during this trip I noticed the almost OCD like habits my father had formed. Noting first that while it was great the dogs were getting walked, he was walking them 8 or more times a day. He'd come inside, sit down and then get right back up to walk them...

In June of 2013, I was five months pregnant and preparing to come home for a Baby Shower my mom's friends were hosting for me. Sometime in the beginning of that month I got a call that started out with "don't worry but..." followed up with finding out that earlier in the day my dad had fallen at work. He had tripped on a curb. The details were fuzzy, but basically his ankle was hurt and he'd also hit his head. His ankle was the big worry at the time because of his work and love for golf. Again, I was told not to worry, so I didn't. No big deal. It was a little strange though, to my mom at least, as my dad never got hurt. He wasn't the clumsy type so she didn't understand how it happened, and he couldn't tell her. At the time, we didn't know it, but after much research and many consultations with doctors, we believe when he hit his head it rapidly accelerated his symptoms. Flash forward a few weeks and I came home for my shower. My dads ankle ...

I have to say, if you ever met my dad, you'd know he was the most incredible man, with the best laugh, a warm smile, a huge heart and a knack to tell jokes just right.  He could talk to anyone and was always the friendliest man in the room. He loved animals, and he would give you the shirt off his back if you asked him to. I always admired him, I still do, and I still feel so lucky to be his daughter. I've always been daddy's girl. Now though, that smile is gone, that laugh is gone, and who was once the funniest man in the room is now just a man who stares blankly at a television screen. I admire him now for his strength to live through the most horrendous disease, with grace. Some that struggle with the disease are angry, aggressive, even violent. My dad is patient, easy going, and sweet, even on his worst days. I think that speaks volumes about his character. I had always wanted children young because my parents were much older (they had struggled to get pregnant wit...

It had to have been years before we really knew. We thought maybe it was his hearing, or maybe just old age. Really though, we were in denial. When I look back I can trace it to at least three years before his diagnosis. I wish I'd known the signs and symptoms then. Perhaps we could have delayed it better, but in the end, we got a diagnosis we never wanted and one we have dreaded ever since. In March of 2015 my father was officially diagnosed with Primary Progressive Aphasia Dementia. He was only 69 years old. Since that day, my life and my mothers life have been drastically different. She is after all his primary caretaker. I wanted to write this blog to address any questions, share my story, my point of view and most of all to inform. I hope I can help just one person, one person who may be in denial too, who doesn't know what to look for. After all, not all forms of Dementia are the same. I remember the day like it was yesterday, the first time I really knew something wasn...