Well, more of the family are chipping in with their earliest memories of mum's dementia. Today I'm quoting from sections of an email from Rebecca, who is mum's first grandchild and also a researcher in ageing and dementia. When Rebecca speaks on the subject, we listen! This is what she has to say:

"I remember thinking that Grandma was a bit odd when Erica and I were visiting, repeating some stories and telling Erica all of her past - personal information included. Maybe she told everyone such personal things, I don't know. Maybe I'm doing what I believe clinical psychologists call 'indulging in a search for meaning' after the event - so I can't be sure."

The visit to Sydney that Rebecca is talking about, when she and Erica, a friend from university, were doing their round-the-world gap year trip, was 1996. Even though the time she is talking about was December of that year, this is a big step back from the 2000-2001 timeframe that Derek and I had been focusing on. She goes on:

"In any case, granddad phoned me before he and grandma came over to England in 2000, ostensibly to pass on information to dad about fly-screens and catches for doors, etc. that could only be bought in Australia. During this conversation he asked me what I knew about AD, what should be looked out for, etc. It seemed a bit odd at the time. When they were here there was definite confabulation and grandma's MMSE was 26, if I recall correctly. The clock drawing test was fairly poor, but note that at her age and with her level of education such an MMSE score may not necessarily be considered abnormal."

OK, well that agrees with what Derek recalls about the MMSE test, and also indicates that dad had been concerned about Alzheimer's disease before the trip to England in 2000. That suggests that Alzheimer's had been discussed amongst us here, and that it was more than just a casual discussion. It looks like dad was actively concerned. Rebecca concludes thus:

"I hope that helps. I think the range of survival is about 3-15 years after diagnosis. You are correct that the mean is quoted as 7 to 8 years, but of course diagnosis may come at different times for different people. On the effects of education: there is some evidence that it affects long term potentiation, i.e. it may help to strengthen neuronal pathways."

There is good news and bad news here. The promise of fifteen years between diagnosis and death is quite a long time, though there is no measure of quality of life either for the sufferer or their carers and, as Rebecca points out, diagnosis may come at either an early or a later stage. Education on the other hand is not something mum got a lot of; I think she had nine years in total. She is pretty high on some other risk factors too - she drank very little alcohol (a couple of glasses a day seems optimal) and she was of average fitness.

Well that is probably as far as our collective memory can stretch on this question. We shall just have to take it from here now.