How do you respond to this?

[Guest guest]

My mother was recently rejected from an independent living/lifecare community

because of her memory issues. She was tentatively diagnosed as having DLB by a

neurologist within the past 6 months and she has declined noticeably in the past

year. (Even in the 3 months between the first neuro visit and the second one,

the neuro said, " She looks worse. "

She is obsessing over the rejection from the independent living community and

her memory loss, and - being in the very early stages of dementia but not

realizing that she IS suffering from dementia - she said to me today that " If I

have such a big memory problem, then what's the point of me even being on this

earth " and " I think I should just end it all. "

How do you handle a person's despair at realizing s/he is declining? What do

you say to someone in response? Help! I'm at a complete loss. She was a very

vibrant, intelligent, creative woman for most of her life, and now she can't

even figure out how to use her cell phone anymore. I just don't know what to

say to her that will help her feel better. All suggestions are welcome.