There is no pattern or consistency.. She can jump from one topic to another:
“How did my husband die?” Then in the next breath, “Where are we having dinner tonight?” And, “What’s the news about my children?”
There is, however, a topic of the day — a subject she starts with when her memory cycle restarts or a subject she keeps going back to over and over again. Sometimes, it is the same topic for several days.
I don’t know what to expect as each new day comes and have to be alert all the time. It is challenging, not just because of the repetitiveness but also because I have to remember the answers I had given earlier to avoid confusing her. Not that she isn’t already confused as it is. Plus the fact that I can’t lie to her, so I have to whittle down my answers to the most simple (and rememberable) version possible.
My admiration for caregivers and elderly home attendants has increased a hundredfold. How do they do it???
Life in the Bukids 