She Is a Beautiful Lady

Dean, 87, and his wife Donna, 78, would ritualistically arrive every 3 months in my geriatrics clinic, rain or shine. They had been married for 61 years. They lived in the same home for all these blissful years and took great pride in that. From the beginning, Donna ably presumed the spokesperson's role and impressed me as a reliable and caring informant who knew Dean more than he knew himself. These interactions spanned over 4 years. The staff became accustomed to the couple's regular presence and even grew quite fond and sympathetic of their changing dynamics and physical, functional, sensory, and mental declines.

Eventually, Donna reported Dean's progressive forgetfulness and impaired comprehension and retention of important elements of daily life. One of the defining moments in their long and harmonious marriage seemed to involve an incident at a family reunion. Dean failed to recognize their 8-year-old granddaughter Amy and evidenced absolute lack of knowledge about another newborn grandson. This devastated the first-time proud parents, and Donna, of course, …