My husband is just 65 (8 years older than me) and, 2 days ago, was diagnosed with 'cerebral atrophy' following an MRI scan of his brain. In the last 5 months he has had three operations and other medical procedures all of which have made him physically fine but the medical people concluded, 2 months ago, that he was suffering from severe depression and he was transfered to a psychiatric ward. I pushed for appropriate 'organic' assessments of his mental health because I believed him to be confused rather than depressed. To be told he has dementia has been devastating because it was not a diagnosis I had expected. It has made me very sad. I am sure there are those of you out there who have experience of what it felt like to have that initial diagnosis made on a loved one and I would be grateful to know how you coped with the feelings that surfaced in you.