WHAT IT FEELS LIKE… WHEN YOUR HUSBAND HAS DEMENTIA AT 53
Life changed beyond recognition for Alison Bulmer, 56, from Cheshire. But she tries to keep a sense of humour through it all
Compiled by Jill Foster
Photograph Getty
“ It was in April 2011 that I found my husband Paul, a senior management consultant, collapsed in our home crying: ‘I can’t do this anymore’. I thought he was having a breakdown as he’d been working 15-hour days. I took him to our GP and was stunned as Paul revealed to our doctor he’d been having very strange experiences.
He described how sometimes he’d leave his desk to go out of the office and couldn’t find the door. His reports – usually perfect – were full of spelling and punctuation errors. He’d started running across roads because he couldn’t tell if the traffic was moving or stationary.
I listened, horrified. He’d had some problems reading and driving since his late 40s but all of us – including our daughters Grace, now 27, and Lorna, 24 – assumed it was related to his eyesight or stress. The doctor prescribed antianxiety medication and referred him to a neurologist, who then referred him to a specialist for further investigation.