When dementia took her husband, she took on his story | Aeon Essays
Briefly

When dementia took her husband, she took on his story | Aeon Essays
"She remembers the officer saying: 'We've clocked your husband going 90 miles an hour, and we can't catch him. He stopped at Cumberland Farms, bought beer, urinated on the side of the building, and took off.' Minutes later, Mike pulled into the driveway, nearly hitting the deck. The officer coolly watched from the door as Mike, a hulking 6' 3", stumbled out of the car reeking of vomit, then threw up on the pavement."
"His strange behaviour had started during her first trimester of pregnancy, 11 months before that visit from the police. She noticed something was off - Mike didn't share her excitement about the baby. At first, she brushed off his indifference as marital, like being ignored by a spouse glued to the game. But there were the weird moments: the earbuds he refused to remove during her labour, lost in a Harry Potter audiobook while she gave birth; the strange obsession with sweets."
"Then Mike quit his teaching job, ostensibly to grow his web design business. But when she checked his phone, she found a slew of unanswered messages from angry customers. His designs, once beautiful, had turned chaotic with ugly fonts and bizarre layouts. There were smaller, stranger things: he started licking food off his fingers at dinner. He stopped brushing his teeth and let his beard grow wild. These weren't just quirks."
During the first trimester of pregnancy, Mike began showing marked behavioral changes including indifference to the baby, obsessive earbud use, and a fixation on sweets. He quit his teaching job to pursue web design while client complaints mounted and his work quality deteriorated into chaotic layouts. Personal hygiene declined: he stopped brushing his teeth, let his beard grow, and licked food from his fingers. A police encounter followed: speeding, buying beer, urinating on a building, stumbling home reeking of vomit and vomiting in the driveway. Those behaviors escalated marital strain and alarm.
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