Denial

Processing dementia

The denial was the shortest phase. It lasted no more than a minute. There is no argument when the evidence is right in front of you. The brain scans mapping out exactly where the atrophy was located. The frontal cortex. All the silly behavior and forgetfulness was just chalked up to mom being mom. But dad, who knew mom better than any of us, he saw the change. A wrong turn was not normal for the straight A student he fell in love with. Forgetting to put on dress shoes instead of wearing her house slippers was normal for this woman who never before would be caught leaving the house with a hair out of place. This wasn't just mom being older or mom being funny. There was something happening to my mother.