It does take your breath away when you come up against overt deficits
in a person who still seems so much like their old self.

The first time it happened to me was seeing the clock faces drawn by my
MIL in our family doctors office - he did a quick screen with her when
I told him we'd seen some some minor forgetfulness. He came out in the
hall to show me, and it was like the ground dropped away from under my
feet. Nothing I could do to sugarcoat what I was looking at. Like, wow,
something is really, terribly wrong, and I can't deny, pretend or make
excuses.

Mary G.