Entering the room and listening to the conversation could not be avoided. Two elderly patients were talking, one was talking about his experiences during the Second World War and the other was listening attentively. When asked what they were arguing about and why, the response they received was surprising and saddening. The patient telling the story explained, “Sometimes my friend forgets everything about the past, so I sit here and tell my stories and it helps my friend remember.” The other patient replied “it's true, there are days when I just can't remember anything and my friend here... remembers everything and tells me about it”. The second patient suffers from Alzheimer's disease, a form of dementia, and apparently today is not a 'good' day. Dementia is defined as “an irreversible and progressive deterioration of cognitive functions that affects memory, orientation, judgment, reasoning, attention, language and problem solving. It is caused by damage or injury to the brain. An estimated 4.5 million older adults suffer from some form of dementia." (Eliopoulos, 2010, p. 413) Continuing to listen to their conversation, while helping the only patient get ready to go to the shower, the writer casually asked about the patient's life, and was amazed when the patient said "well, I don't know that my brain is not working well today" the writer asked the patient how many children he had and was proudly told of a forty-one year old son and a grandson, although the patient could not remember the age of the grandson. The writer was told that the patient was a widow but the patient could not remember how long, nor how long the marriage had lasted. The patient remembers having worked for a company that therefore... half of the document.. . work published in 1979. Johns Hopkins Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland. //www.hopkinsmedicine.org/healthlibrary/conditions/adult/nervous_system_disorders/alzheimers_disease_85,P00772/Preventing Dementia. (2008). Memory (medical letter),7-24. Retrieved July 4, 2011, from EBSCOhost. http://dproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.sapx?direct+true&db=hxh&AN=32600475&site=ehost-live&scope=siteRegistered Nurses Association of Ontario. (2004). Care strategies for older adults with delirium, dementia, and depression. Nursing Best Practice Guidelines Shaping the future of Nursing, retrieved July 14, 2011, from http://www.rnao.org/Storage/69/6404_FINAL_-_Caregiving_-_BPG_+_Supplement.pdf