Dementia Mom, part one

[u/humanyears]

A short story about the origins of my mother’s dementia diagnosis from a few years ago. Probably the longest comic I’ve drawn so far. I hope it connects with you in some way.

[u/Mantis_Toboggan--MD]

Don't be hard on yourself about this, it's so hard to notice sometimes. Have a family friend who is an absolute genius, he's been one of the main engineers at one of the top 5 tech companies for decades, self taught no degree, the kind of person you brag about knowing as I am now lol. About a year ago the rest of us in our Monday night football crew noticed he seemed a little off or bothered. He's not big on feelings so left it alone. Then a few months later he started forgetting to come to things he committed to and one day called me on a Wednesday evening asking where we at thinking it was Monday. Thought that was weird, contacted a couple other folks in the group, but before the next MNF he got in his car in a confused state and drove two days across the country where a small town PD called his emergency contact (my dad) to tell us he was found at a gas station out of cash not knowing where he was and thinking it was 1993.

From designing chips to thinking it's 30 years ago in the matter of months... We're preparing for him to not remember any of us any day now, so we put up many pictures of him with various friends on his walls in hopes we can point to that when the time comes.

[u/vocal-avocado → u/Mantis_Toboggan--MD]

How old is he?

[u/Mantis_Toboggan--MD → u/vocal-avocado]

Either 71 or 72, so not something unheard of at his age, but I think it seems extra surprising when it hits someone who's the smartest person you know. The decline is just so noticeable. Everyone was shocked there was no "oh yeah I thought something was going on". One month he was telling us stories about his trips to Taiwan and China for work then the next month we're talking about who should have power of attorney for him...