I'm not sure how to deal with my husband's bad manners in public when we're with friends. This is new for me and not sure I should be announcing to everyone that he has dementia as a way for them to overlook his behavior (like eating his meal then reaching across and starting to eat from my plate or just starting to eat before everyone is seated).
I find that I'm less inclined to accept invitations or invite friends over for a meal. Any advice?
Other behaviors will surface. This makes it impossible to take them out because you never know what they will do next, and this includes some pretty gross behavior such as urinating in public and stealing things. My advice, and it's something you won't like, is to stop taking him out. When behavior isn't appropriate, we largely lose our spouse's companionship outside the home.
We want to pretend that nothing is different and that they just have a little memory loss. But it's much more than that, and they can't adjust to being "outside" so we are the ones who must adjust by learning to go it alone.
I'm very sorry. This is one of the things you don't learn in the books and articles about dementia, which often sugar-coat the situation.
I recommend a book called Understanding the Experience by Jennifer Ghent-Fuller and The 36 Hour Day as well. Learn all you can about the condition and how best to manage your lives now.
I'm sorry you're going through this and wish you good luck and Godspeed with a difficult situation.