Dad is 85 with late stage dementia, probably multiple types, doesn’t fit any 1 type. First obvious signs were in 2012, diagnosed w/ MCI in 2016, progressed from there. His memory has been all over the place. He was holding on to some new & old things. Doesn’t go back in time much. Over the past year & 1/2 he’s lost his language skills & either says sentences that aren’t relevant, or the words don’t go together or a lot of the time they are not real words at all. Seems content, but not totally aware of where he is or what’s going on. He doesn’t use any of our names, but smiles when he sees us, like he knows we are his, which is lovely. His sentences usually are a couple words & then goes into singing. Some of the time, especially recently, he seems to understand part of what’s going on. All of a sudden now, he might respond appropriately to a conversation. Even have a few full normal sentences. Use an appropriate word to let us know what he wants, like “bed” or “ cup”. He now seems to understand he’s “sick”. Again, not all the time, but more than he’s done in over a year. He is pretty healthy except for the dementia, in a wheelchair & awake at least 1/2 the day, eats good. I know there are ups & downs with all dementia, we’ve seen our fair share. This just seems different. Any one else have experience with this? (This is not about end of life sudden awareness, I understand that too. This is different.
Mom always had a 10-20% uptick in the summer.
Best of luck to you and dad.