Mom and my sweetest cat died this year. Mom in April and my little princess yesterday.

[CousinIT]

16. My Mom had dementia. She would lose track of conversations.

She would think someone who has passed years ago had just passed yesterday - like parts of her memory in near past had disappeared. I had to learn not to correct her when she got facts wrong or jumped to different subjects during a conversation and just try to follow her thoughts and words wherever they went instead. It's hard at first but it gets easier and was best for her rather than correcting her. Their true heart and soul is revealed in what they remember and what they forget. They don't know what they can't remember. She forgot when our uncle died. She forgot where she had always wanted to be buried. She forgot that I was vegan. I was not insulted and didn't correct her. I just went along with it. "Yes Mom I'm vegan. It means I don't eat animal products." ... "how long have you been like that?" .... "well a long time now." No correction, just information when she asked. Uncle died years ago. She would say: "Uncle died a couple weeks ago...". I'd just say: "yea I know, I was really sad to see him go. I really loved him." No correcting her version of reality.

I did not laugh at her, or correct her or become annoyed or insulted. I just followed her thoughts and conversations wherever she wanted to go. It seemed to work out best and left her with at least a little bit more of her dignity intact, I hoped.