Rick Phelps Good Days and Bad Days Good and bad days.

That's what you hear when you ask a family member how their loved one is. I say it myself, often. Phyllis June tells everyone who asks her how I am, "Well, he has good and bad days." What does that mean? I started saying it cause I heard everyone else saying it. I been thinking about this for some time now, and have come to the conclusion that though I have days where I can function "normally", but do I really ever have a good day? There isn't a minute that goes by that I am not reminded of this disease. It is a disease of the brain, so obviously there is no getting away from it. I also wonder what constitutes a good day? Dementia patients, whether they have just been diagnosed or have been fighting this for a few years all go through hell. It's much more than memory loss. Though memory loss is what you think of when you think of dementia, along with the disease comes losses of other things. Pride, self esteem, confidence, and you lose the ability to be the bread winner of the family in some cases. The constant fear that comes with this disease is also a battle day in and day out. The anxiety over things you have no control over. The fear of being in a room full of people, the fear that someone might just ask you the simplest of questions. Like "How are you?" So instead of good days and bad, I have come to the conclusion I have good moments, and bad days. There are moments when I think I actually forget I have this disease. Not many, and they never last more than a moment. I'm sure every dementia patient deals with all the time. "Dad has his good days, and bad." When in fact Dad has but fleeting moments that could be considered good. But he has days, upon days that are indeed bad...