He is very ill with an interstitial lung disease. He thinks he can still do things that he did in the past which he is unable to do physically now, like getting out of bed and walking. He thinks he is in a former place that he lived. He asks questions about events that happened long ago and thinks they are happening now. Thanks.
They can also suffer from anosognosia, which is the inability to recognize or acknowledge their deficits. It's not denial, just the inability to see the condition. My mother, to her dying day, insisted the doctor was FULL of sh$& and she was fine, nothing wrong with her at all, it was everyone else in Memory Care who was "crazy". Quite something to witness, really.
Your husband's doctor can guide you, most likely. But don't be surprised if DH wants to "go home" or thinks he's 25 again, or doesn't recognize you as his wife now. He's looking for you as you were on your wedding g day. They revert in time, going backwards, which confuses everybody until they understand how dementia works in the brain.
Best of luck to you.
Best of luck to you 🙏❤️🍀
Delirium is an acute state of confusion that comes on relatively quickly and is extremely common in people who are seriously ill, especially with conditions affecting oxygen levels like interstitial lung disease. It causes exactly what you're describing, confusion about place and time, believing they're somewhere they used to live, asking about past events as if they're happening now, thinking they can do things their body no longer allows.
The important difference between delirium and dementia is that delirium often has a treatable underlying cause. Low oxygen levels, infection, medication interactions, dehydration, pain, sleep deprivation, any of these can trigger it in someone who is seriously ill. Treating the underlying cause can sometimes resolve the confusion significantly.
Please contact his doctor today and describe exactly what you wrote here. Use the word delirium specifically; it will help them understand what you're seeing and take it seriously as an urgent concern rather than a general decline.
A few things worth mentioning to the doctor: when the confusion started, whether it came on suddenly or gradually, whether it is worse at certain times of day, and whether his oxygen levels have been checked recently.
You are clearly paying very close attention to him. That attentiveness could make a real difference in getting him the right help quickly.