Hi all,

I just got off the phone with a dear friend of many years.   I knew he has
made several references in the last year or so that indicated he had to care
for his wife, and that she was ill.  But nothing that would indicate what
sort of illness she had.  Today he mentioned in confidence, that she is "a
bit confused".

I gave him all the usual advice we always give newcomers to this newsgroup,
about getting her tested thoroughly, to determine, through default testing,
exactly what she is suffering from, with the hopes that it would turn out to
be something reversible.   He is quite overwhelmed and he has the weight of
the world on his shoulders.

Of course she is in complete denial, as all of our loved ones have been.
This is a very difficult and sad scenario.   He has adult children who live
far away, and he is essentially alone in caring for her.   My husband had to
stop by their home a couple of months ago, and he was apalled at the chaos
he saw there.   Dirty dishes piled up, and the place looked like it hadn't
been cleaned in a long time.   I couldn't imagine what on earth had
happened, since things were not like that in the past.

So now I pretty much know what and why ..... and so another person is sick
with this awful illness.   Strange that I never put two and two together,
especially since I saw this same kind of thing with my mother in law.   I am
going to help this friend in any way I can.   I have never been all that
close to his wife, but he was always a great guy and a good friend, and we
often saw them at gatherings of various kinds.

He needs to get some assistance and soon.   I have no way of knowing how
long she has been showing symptoms, but I did urge him to move more quickly
on this, since she needs to get on some meds ASAP to preserve whatever
cognition she has left for as long as possible.