4. Back to the Neurologist

In late winter or early spring of 1999, Mother went back to the neurologist accompanied by Dad and Son, who described to the doctor Mother's problems including her walking. Once again, the doctor administered the Mini Mental Status Exam, but this time Mother made two or three mistakes, which still wasn't bad but worse than a few months earlier when she made no errors. We privately expressed surprise at her good performance on the test, because her problems at home had become obvious.

"Our family assumed the diagnosis was Alzheimer's disease"

The neurologist didn't overtly diagnose Mother with Lewy body disease, or Alzheimer's disease, or any kind of dementia for that matter. (On a later visit, he showed us his records in which he had written his diagnosis of Lewy body disease.) Perhaps, he feared that talking about dementia would upset the family. He only said that Mother had some cognitive problems along with aspects of Parkinson's disease. He prescribed Aricept, which was then the primary treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Upon hearing that Aricept had been prescribed, our family just assumed that the diagnosis was Alzheimer's.