She recently turned 84. She received a lot of birthday cards , but couldn't remember who some of theses people are now. She received cards from these same people for Christmas last year and knew all of them. She cannot remember how to turn on the tv and constantly winds the clock daily even though is is a 35 day clock. I assume this is a natural part of aging, but it seems as though it has really progressed in the last two months. A lot of her friends and our relatives have died recently. Could this be causing her memory loss to progress. Whenever we have appointments I have to constantly remind her over and over as if she forgot what we are talking about. She complains about health issues and I make dr appointments, but when we see the doctor she tells him she us fine. Will it get worse? What symptoms should I be watching for? Any suggestions? She constantly waters her plants until they are drowning and water is everywhere.
Oh yes, our elders will always tell the doctor they are fine... and they will "showboat" while at the office pretending not to have any memory issues... this is normal for them to do.
It's not unusual to forget appointments. One time I had a large calendar where I use to write down Dad's appointments. But Dad would forget what today was... so I bought him a Day Clock which showed only the Days and that worked well for awhile because when he napped he would wake up thinking it was the next day.
Something I've learned is to not worry about the small things. If she drowns her plants, they will just be victims. However, try to make sure there is protection under the plants so the house structure doesn't get damaged. If she forgets who someone is, you can remind her. She may remember with a little prompting. It probably won't hurt the clock to be wound daily, so I wouldn't worry.
Let the doctor know what she is doing. Some doctors won't look into a dementia diagnosis. Since it got worse a couple of months back, it made me wonder if it might be vascular dementia. Most doctors won't pursue a diagnosis on what type of dementia it is. The only real benefit I know in getting a dx of dementia is that it validates what the caregiver already knows is true. If it behaves like vascular dementia, it also provides more incentive for controlling things like diabetes and blood pressure.
What we can do is hope for the best. And hope we don't lose our own sanity along the way. It can get frustrating.