There are people

I saw an elderly couple a few months ago. The patient was an elderly man who was brought in by his wife for evaluation of hallucinations. Very nice, sweet couple. She told me he was talking about seeing 'people' outside the house where they had lived for decades. So I asked-well, are there people there? She replied-well, not always. Well, what do you mean. So she elaborated: Sometimes he sees people when they are not there. Ok, fair enough. I examined and evaluated the man-came up with the diagnosis of dementia. I started talking to the wife about the issues-but she was very fixated on the whole 'people' issue. 

The next thing she said when told her that he is likely demented was "Well what about the people. I know there are people in the house-people that nobody else but the two of us can see and hear. But I KNOW he is seein things when he talks about those people outside! They ain't there!

Aha...one of the other good things in marriage-not just growing old together but getting demented together.