Didn’t recognize friends

Gig Harbor

We went out for dinner with friends we have known for 7 years, vacationed with and see usually once a month. On the way home my husband mentioned he did not recognize them. You wouldn’t have known that from his behavior. I noticed that when he did make a comment during the conversation it was hard to understand and sometimes didn’t make sense. He wasn’t upset at all. It makes me wonder who he actually recognizes anymore. He is so friendly that he smiles and nods at everyone so people just figure that he knows who they are.

Rescue mom

Oh my goodness…Gig, my DH did that for a long time. Same with longtime friends, who he always acted very friendly with, and asked later  “who was that?” Or “do you know them?”   He’d just smile and nod when they talked, stranger, friend of 40 years or family. Maybe sometimes he’d  say “ohhh ok” or “wow,” something like that.

.People just assumed he knew them and whatever they talked about. He actually agreed, via those nods and “OK”  to do some things that were impossible, and he had no idea that he’d agreed to anything, much less remember any of it the next day. . (I had to deal with all that later)  Every now and then he might make a longer comment that usually didn’t make sense, but most people overlooked? it.

 What was kind of funny —although frustrating sometimes—was how so many people would say later “he seems really good” or “we had a good talk”, when all DH did was smile and nod. Makes you think about what many people want/expect from conversation….

Now his Alzheimer’s is much more obvious, more immediately.

Ed1937

Gig, I'm sorry for yet another loss. We haven't had to deal with that yet, but have other losses, and every one of them is hard.