Now that I’m knee-deep in this adventure, I keep hearing first-person accounts of the crazy behavior of some people when they get dementia. When someone is particularly not nice, you always hear, “That is not how my mom ever behaved.”
It makes you wonder though. Is that really how they were, but you just never knew it?
I still catch myself wondering that some days. If she’s said something that strikes me particularly horrible, I immediately change the subject and try to delete it from my brain.
When I get home I re-read ALL the sites and resources that tell you behavioral changes are common with dementia.
I remind myself that I need to view my mom as someone with a head injury – because that is truly what she has.
When she says something that is particularly mean, I’m training myself to remember that she’s had a brain injury and for many parts of some days, she’s not my mom. Hardened.