Finding Jake: The Dementia Jigsaw

Finding Jake. The dementia jigsaw is my personal insight into living with the disease. I know how it feels to lose my memories, my identity. My brain, which oversees everything my existence depends on, has malfunctioned with nothing I can do to repair it. I liken it to a jigsaw puzzle, some of the edge pieces have become mixed in with the rest, and a few bits must have dropped to the floor and gotten lost through the gaps in the floorboards. I am having to adapt my thinking as I go. I cannot plan too far into the future because I do not know how fast things will deteriorate. Not everyone diagnosed with FTD will go through the same things as me, and not a lot of doctors are familiar with it. They can tell you anything about Alzheimer’s, but few will have had to deal directly with a patient with FTD.