overdue

[mariposagerl]

today William and i finally made the drive up to Longview to visit my grandparents, something i have been meaning to do for far longer than i am proud of. after receiving a very heartfelt, out of the blue email from my grandpa it hit me that i needed to just go. so i wrote him back immediately, letting him know that we would be up to visit the next

Comments

[dan10things]

I was lucky and my grandparents lived close. I visited them once a week as my grandfather got Alzheimers and fairly quickly forgot a lot. He ended up in a nursing home off Broadway where I could visit him too, he was pretty good at faking he knew me when they told him his grandson was there. It was a long process of dying... as it was with my grandma after. I don't envy you for what you have ahead of you since I've been through it myself. I'd just say visit more often, you will be happy you did when they've passed.

[mariposagerl]

I plan on visiting her as much as I can. I don't really know what she is like when she is alert and at her best, she was on a lot of painkillers when I saw her. I think she is pretty much past the point of being able to fake anything. I really regret not visiting her sooner than I did, she really went downhill quickly. I guess all I can do is just spend as much time with her and my grandpa as possible.

[bon_fire]

*hugs*

[mariposagerl]

thanks. :)

[irinacita]

Alzheimer's is hell on everyone, particularly the one who has it. One of my clients has short term memory issues that are similar to Alzheimer's. Her family is close to putting her into an assisted living facility specifically catered to memory loss patients. It's good that you visited her, but be sure to continue visiting her as often as you get a chance to. Bring turn based games (like UNO, Scrabble, Sorry, etc.) as they're easy to relearn the rules and will keep her mind as active as possible. I am so sorry your family has to go through this, it's got to be one of the hardest ways to go.

[mariposagerl]

I don't know if she would be able to play games, she is on a lot of painkillers and it makes her incoherent a lot of the time. But I don't really know if she is like that most of the time, or if that is more the exception than the rule. I am going to visit as much as I can and just do whatever I can to be there for my grandpa, I know this is so hard on him.