For years my husband's memory has steadily declined. Our first indication that something was seriously wrong was when he and our youngest son sat watching TV when a commercial came on for a newly released movie.

"Have you seen that, Colton?" he asked. "It looks like it might be a good one."

Listening to this conversation from the next room, I came in and helped Colton try to jog his dad's memory of a day trip with our entire immediate family of seven to a town an hour away to see that movie, enjoy dinner together, and shop at the local mall. He had no recollection of a single event of that entire day. Soon afterward, he was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment.

Since then, his memory has gone from bad to worse, to better. Good days and bad. All the while he continued working and managing his life. I had always taken care of the finances, children, basically everything. So as par would have it, he really had nothing to manage other than his work life.

His bipolar disorder further complicated his ability, or so I thought, to help do much of anything, making me an overwhelmed wife and mother.

Fast forward 20 years. Our children are all grown, and his cognition has steadily declined. Seven moths ago, he was diagnosed with dementia and prescribed a cocktail of drugs that have helped. Both his memory & cognition have improved to the point of us wondering if he even has dementia. Or are the symptoms just being treated?

A long-awaited visit with a neurologist is scheduled soon. He's been the classic patient that presents so put together that the brain imaging that I've asked for over the years was almost ordered for me, who seen as the one “not right.” Very frustrating.

Two recent MRIs (one at the time of diagnosis and the other after a mini stroke two months later) showed a completely different finding: 20% brain atrophy on one side; age-related brain changes on the other.

Swimming through mud!!