I’m afraid she’ll stop seeing me as her mother and start seeing me as someone who needs to be taken care of.
Please help me understand what’s happening before we tell her.
Love, Grandma.
I read the letter three times.
Then I remembered something.
Two months earlier, my mother had forgotten my birthday.
I had been angry.
I’d told her, “Mom, you’re getting careless. You used to remember everything.”
She had apologized repeatedly.
I hadn’t realized how frightened she already was.
“Why was she screaming tonight?” I asked Daniel.
Over the following weeks, specialists assessed her symptoms and diagnosed a form of dementia. They also reviewed her medications and checked for other conditions that could worsen her confusion.
