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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
My dad has dementia. Therapeutic lies are not this at all. They are small lies to help not upset the person. For example, my dad doesn't remember that his favorite uncle has passed. When he wants to call him, I silence my cell and dial it from our landline. I tell my dad his uncle is out/napping/etc and have him leave a message. If he does remember later about the call, I say something like "yes, you did call Uncle Mitch. You talked about your garden this year." And he'll usually go "oh, that's right! I did talk to him." I don't say he talked TO my Uncle. I tell him he called him and talked about ___. Small lies.

Sometimes he'll wake up and think it's his birthday. We roll with it. We tell him happy birthday and have him select a special meal for the day. We get him a cupcake treat or some donuts, which are his favorite. No harm, no foul. And really, once you reach 75, why not celebrate all that time?  :lol: [/quote]

Side note: PP, just wanted to say that your dad is very lucky to have you. You seem to be approaching this with so much compassion and creativity. It's honestly inspiring to me as I grapple with my own dad's dementia -- you seem to have found a lightness or maybe just a matter-of-fact-ness to it that I hope I can similarly find as we walk this path with him. [/quote]

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