Mrs. Smith had been married for half her life. All her children married and moved away. She thought that it was normal for aged people to be forgetful and quiet like her husband.
However, her children suspected that something was wrong. When they took Mr. Smith to the physician, they were told that he had dementia.
As the dementia progressed, Mr. Smith became increasingly non-communicative and dependent. Mrs. Smith could not take her eyes off him because she was afraid that he might hurt himself. This was very demanding for her as she was elderly too.
However, she did not want to bother her children so she told them she could handle it. She also refused to apply for social services for Mr. Smith as there was a charge for those services.
Mrs. Smith felt more and more stressed as she could not feel any love and care from her husband. It also hurt when he started to forget who she was. This made Mrs. Smith feel bad about herself as her husband had handled everything for her over the years without complaining, but there was nothing she could do to stop him from deteriorating. As time passed by, she started to have nightmares about her future.
