(Norman sent me this, and I thought other people might find it helpful)
This is not me? This is MY DEMENTIA
Please remember me for who I was, not who I have become,
This is not me in front of you now,
This is a charlatan called dementia,
Yes I have the same voice, the same looks, but do not act the same,
When would I ever had gone out with two shirts on, two ties and no shoes?
When would I have walked outside in the snow dressed in only pyjamas?
Have you ever known me to dribble and drop my food all over myself?
This is not me my love, this is who I have become,
Please love me for who I was, and remember me when we laughed,
Please love me for the great times we had, and not the nights of terror and exhaustion,
I wake each day and remember most of the idiotic things dementia has compelled
me to do,
This, my love, is my Lewy Body’s dementia,
They do say I will have clarity of some sort right to the end,
What End? when will this END come?
What you see now is not me, but just a shadow of who I was,
I yearn to be the person I was, I yearn to do the simplest of things,
I want to walk to work, in fact I would love to walk anywhere on my own,
You have to be by my side 24 hrs a day to keep me safe
Are you the person you once were? I think not,
Has dementia changed both our lives? I think so,
Now I “GET IT”
THIS is not only MY Dementia, but also YOURS!!
This is OUR DEMENTIA
And for that I will be forever sorry my love
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Norrms, diagnosed with dementia 7 years ago, aged just 50.