This is what happened, but it’s not when it began. We don't know when that was. My husband and I have suspected for months—years, even. Still, hearing it is sobering. We leave the medical appointment with a prescription. It stalls disease progression. There is no cure. He stays in the car while I wait under the pharmacy’s fluorescent lights, repeating, He’s no sicker than he was. The pharmacist gives me the bottle, head tilted and pity in her eyes. There it is. A dementia diagnosis changes nothing, except what others see. We are no different than we were moments ago.
Marion Agnew's first book was Reverberations: A Daughter's Meditations on Alzheimer's (2019). Her debut novel, Making Up the Gods, was published last month. marionagnew.com Instagram: @marionagnew Twitter: @shuniahwriter