Once upon a time in my life, God put the most beautiful woman in front of my eyes that I have ever seen. It wasn't just physical beauty, although her eyes were the color of a clear blue sky with the sun shining, and there wasn't a cloud anywhere. It wasn't just her eyes that attracted me to her so much. The more I talked with her, the more I understood just how intelligent she was. She could talk about almost any subject, like science, religion, cooking, clothing, housing, anything. It didn't take long to realize after our first meeting that I would fall in love with her and love her for the rest of my life. I knew some things about science, and more about religion, because I had taken a course on religions of the world at DePaul University. Of course, my specialty was in music because that was my purpose at the university. It was probably the only thing I had more knowledge of than she did.
When she was diagnosed 6 years ago with frontal lobe and vascular dementia, I didn't have much knowledge about that disease, but I knew it wasn't good. After doing a lot of research about dementia, I knew what the end result would be.
I've tried hard over the last six years to take as good care of her as possible. For a couple of years, there wasn't much change during that time. That has changed.
According to the Mayo Clinic, there are five stages of dementia. Going by their calculations, I would say Joan is in stage 4.
4. Moderate Dementia
Confusion deepens, memory loss increases, and individuals require assistance with daily personal care.
Key signs include difficulty dressing appropriately, trouble managing personal hygiene, confusion regarding time or location, sleep disturbances, wandering, and behavioral or personality shifts.
Only someone who takes care of a person with dementia can know how this makes me feel. It has definitely affected my own health. My only prayer is that I live long enough to take care of Joan. After that, I would be happy to leave with her.
