As it went on, it got worse and more difficult to explain and after my sister-in-law's birthday party we became seriously concerned. He wasn't able to figure some basic things out and his mannerisms seemed very off. A friend of the family had recently suffered a stroke and my mother wondered if he could have had a mini-stroke of some kind that was affecting him. That was the worse case scenario in our minds and we hoped it was just anxiety due to starting yet another new job and that some medication would help.
The doctor he went to see was fairly concerned and he was referred to a neurologist who would eventually refer him to another specialist. During these weeks he was let go from his job again and this time it was clearly because he could not pick up on how to do things. We were getting more and more nervous about what kind of answer we were going to get from the doctor. But as worried as she was, my mother still didn't seem to grasp the reality of the situation. She began helping him update his resume again and look for work. When she told me that I sat down with her and told her it had to stop. He clearly couldn't work and it was time to sit down and look at how to deal with that financially, but not matter what, she needed to tell him it was okay to retire. It should happen now before it came from the doctor. That was the first time I saw a look on her face that I was going to end up seeing a lot of. It's a look someone gets when you point out something painfully obvious and there's a moment of surprise before it silently blends into clarity without any further discussion. So we got some balloons, a cake, some 'happy retirement' cards and party favors and the family went out to dinner and had a little celebration. Shortly after he was diagnosed with Frontotemporal Dimentia.
More on Frontotemporal Dimentia
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