Some of you may find the story of a extended Colombian family with early-onset Alzheimer's of interest. It is hoped that the research being done on this family will shed light on effective treatments for Alzheimer's disease. You can find many articles on this story worldwide, but here is one link below. (Ignore the stupid pop-up windows in the story, and just read the article.)
Dementia is like an "onion" where the outside layers get peeled away. That's why recent memories disappear but ones from decades ago become very clear. When my father was in moderate dementia, incidents from his youth that he had not thought of in decades suddenly surfaced - and he would talk about them at the dinner table as if they had occurred yesterday and everyone else would also remember them.
My father and mother used to go to a local doughnut shop that they referred to as "the coffee shop" where they would nurse a couple of cups of coffee & a donut for about 2 hours and chat with other seniors. When my father was in the assisted living, he kept saying that he wanted to go 'to the coffee shop.' I could not make him understand that he now lived in 100 miles away from the coffee shop. I finally said, "how many miles is it from city X to your old home town where you grew up?" He said "97 miles." I said "well, that's how far it is to the coffee shop now." (I had moved him to an assisted living facility that was near where he grew up.) He was still trying to process that when I left that day....
Time & distance become skewed when somebody has dementia.
My mom is in an AL. She insists almost daily that she is returning home to one address or another from decades ago. I was leaving one Sunday evening and was walking her to the dining room, reminding her that her home is right here. It is sad, of course, but I had to laugh as I overheard several visitors having parallel conversations with their resident loved ones.
"The doctor wants you to stay here to get stronger". "I can't take care of you at home right now. Let's go down to the dining room for a cup of coffee and some pie".
From what I had read here on Aging Care, what your hubby is going through is very common.
Glad I remember reading that as recently my Mom was in the hospital and wanted to go home, she wanted to spring out of bed, get dress, and have me drive her home. Well, that wasn't happening. It took some doing trying to convince Mom that she had fallen and hit her head... eventually she accepted that reason.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2897185/The-village-residents-dementia-age-40-Genetic-mutation-marrying-families-means-Yamural-curse-spiralling-control.html
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Time & distance become skewed when somebody has dementia.
Glad I remember reading that as recently my Mom was in the hospital and wanted to go home, she wanted to spring out of bed, get dress, and have me drive her home. Well, that wasn't happening. It took some doing trying to convince Mom that she had fallen and hit her head... eventually she accepted that reason.