‘She lost her abilities but not herself’: My wife’s life remained worthwhile even with dementia
We all hope to reach at least the age of 70, but if we are cheeky enough to exceed that, then one in 10 of us will eventually develop dementia, and that figure will rise exponentially.
It’s a spectre that can haunt us all as doctors — we who particularly trade on our mental acuity.
It’s the fear of losing control, followed by the projection of our future selves as that stooped figure, propped expressionless and inaccessible in a chair in a corner of a slightly smelly nursing home sitting room.
Dementia is a terrifying illness and a too-familiar source of awful stress and sadness.
