DEAR DEIDRE: I LOSE MY WIFE TO EARLY DEMENTIA
MY wife suffers from incipient dementia and it breaks my heart.
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I am 61 and she is 57. She was diagnosed last year.
She can’t understand a single word I say now.
She can no longer read and all joy is gone from her life.
She watches cartoons for children but just stares at the screen. I don’t know how much she understands.
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I’m her primary caregiver, so I don’t have much break.
Our daughter lives with her boyfriend, so I can’t involve her. I feel so sad about the whole thing right now.
DEIDRE SAYS: That’s so heavy.
Dementia is one of the cruellest diseases because the person you fell in love with is no longer really there, but needs a lot of demanding care.
Please don’t think you have to wear this alone.
Does your daughter live close enough to be with her mother one day a week?
Dementia UK (dementiauk.org0800 888 6678) can help you access all the support you are entitled to.
The admiral nurses will really understand the pressure you are under.