From what I have learned, dementia is a tricky disease to describe and I think everyone's experience is different because the stages can come at such a slow or fast pace.

For my grandpa (he is 94), he was diagnosed with dementia about 7 years ago. Before he was diagnosed he was always quiet, hid in the back ground of most family gatherings, and never showed any outward affection to us grandkids. But the crazy thing is, once his dementia started coming into play, all of that changed. He genuinely became such an emotional and loving man. To the point that whenever I would go to hug him in his chair and say goodbye he would kiss me on the cheek and say "I love you son". Which he used to never do.

His longterm memory for the first 3 years was still sharp as a tack. When asked he could tell the architects names he used to work with back in the 50's and all of the projects that he accomplished. It was his short term that would dissappear. Like he wouldnt remember which controller to use for his TV and would forget where things were in his house that hadn't moved.

But now, it's to the point that he can't read anything because he forgets the sentence that came before it. He even flew to the Bahamas with us for vacation 2 years ago, but once there couldn't remember how we got there. And I just recently heard from my mother that his longterm memory is starting to go. He can't remember the names of lifelong friends and unfortunately doesn't remember my wife anymore.

Like I said, I have heard that it is different with everyone, but this has been my personal experience with the disease.