What to Tell Someone Newly Diagnosed With Alzheimer's

Today would have been my late husband's 80th b.d. I recorded his illness and last days on this blog. He died from mixed dementia (Vascular Dementia and Alzheimer's) in our Plant City home on June 23, 2014. He was told the news that he had this disease with the doctor's simple,

Mr. Johnson, you have dementia. 

No other instructions. Nada. So I, his wife and caregiver, had to come up with a plan. On retrospect, I wish he had been told these instructions.

1. Mr. Johnson, live life for each day.
2. Organize your finances. 
3. You don't need to work forever. Plan to retire.
4. Your mind will play tricks on you and you need to trust your wife to be your helpmate and help you to decide each day. She will give you a schedule so you know what is happening.
5. Stop using guns and equipment that might not be safe for you or others. Eventually you will not be safe to drive. 
6. You will eventually need help recognizing your surroundings because you do not feel at home. You want to "go home". But accept your wife and other caregivers judgments. 
7. This life is not all. You as a Christian have heaven to look forward to. Your wife and others will be there for you. 

But we learned as we went along. 

Happy Birthday in Heaven,

sweetheart!

I will always remember you.