My husband's neurologist said we should know in three years whether he has full blown Alzheimer's. There is a 50-50 chance. Then what?

Right! I say that if my husband could stay in his present stage indefinitely, I'd have no problem caring for him. So I try to remember that these are the good old days. This is when you can take a long desired trip. This is when you can take day trips to the city or the country, eat out or go to the movies or to football games.

See a lawyer, and protect your assets in case the diagnosis happens. But if you don't have a fortune, spend some of your nest egg now on some fun. The NH will get whatever is left, so do a little sensible splurging now.

I don't know about you, but I knew my husband had ALZ before his first testing, 5 years before his diagnosis. Work now on loving and understanding him, and noticing his love for you. (I had to dig a little deep to find it, so I did.) Having a better relationship will make it easier for you to care for him when he's no longer all there.

What jeanne said and I would add, don't spend the next three years focusing on testing and diagnosing his condition. Get out and do interesting, challenging and fun things while he can. Take photos and assemble an album. There will come a time where he may be to physically challenged to go out and about but would enjoy the visual memories.

Or maybe his progress will speed up and it will be clear in a year that he has Alzheimer's or some other dementia. Or maybe the progression will be very slow and he'll still be in MCI in three years. Maybe it will never progress.

Sigh.

The neurologist may be correct that within three years most cases like this have a resolved diagnosis, but no one has a crystal ball to say for sure where your husband will be in three years.

What you can do today and tomorrow and three years from now and six years from now is to work on managing the symptoms, whatever they are, and ensuring the best quality of life possible.