I really really hate Alzheimer's disease - Page 2

[papschmitty]

I think it can really vary. When my grandma was diagnosed, we were told that she had a very rapidly progressing form of the disease and probably would not survive more than 5 years. She held on for over a decade. She was very young (mid 60's) and otherwise very healthy. She lost her recognition of people in kind of a reverse chronological order; first recent friends, then great grandkids, then grandkids, then her own children. Though her memory would come and go. She remembered my grandpa up until almost the very end and fully recognized him as she was dying (he was there holding her hand as she passed away).

[KatWrangler]

You aren't alone. My Dad died of this October 2007. My Mom has it right now. Has had it a couple of years in fact.

I have also lost 4 Aunts to this horrible disease.

[frannyfresh]

I watched my Father die on January 29, 2009 of Alzheimers. He was in a nursing home for three years and right before Christmas he was hospitalized with UTI. He never really came out of unconsciousness after that. He stopped eating and then drinking. My Mother had designated do not resisitate for him so I watched him slowly die over through the month of January. The last week was unbearable. Everyday watching him struggle for breathe , then 1/29 at 9:50 pm he just stopped breathing. That was it. He was cremated and his remains are with me. I wanted to take care of him in death because I couldn't take care of him while he was living. My mother put him in the nursing home when my daughter was 1 year old. I returned to work a few months later then when she was 2 full time. There was not enough hours in the day to see my Father that much and I reget it terribly. The last week that he was alive I watched how the people took care of him and wondered aloud if I could have done the same. I miss him so much.
Peace to you and strength. This disease is a long road. LOve her and do not believe that she doesnt know you are there. I feel deep in my heart and soul that my Father knew I was there until the end. It was the way he looked into my eyes.

[Susana]

Originally Posted by frannyfresh

I feel deep in my heart and soul that my Father knew I was there until the end. It was the way he looked into my eyes.

frannyfresh-

[rcr]

Originally Posted by frannyfresh

I watched my Father die on January 29, 2009 of Alzheimers. He was in a nursing home for three years and right before Christmas he was hospitalized with UTI. He never really came out of unconsciousness after that. He stopped eating and then drinking. My Mother had designated do not resisitate for him so I watched him slowly die over through the month of January. The last week was unbearable. Everyday watching him struggle for breathe , then 1/29 at 9:50 pm he just stopped breathing. That was it. He was cremated and his remains are with me. I wanted to take care of him in death because I couldn't take care of him while he was living. My mother put him in the nursing home when my daughter was 1 year old. I returned to work a few months later then when she was 2 full time. There was not enough hours in the day to see my Father that much and I reget it terribly. The last week that he was alive I watched how the people took care of him and wondered aloud if I could have done the same. I miss him so much.
Peace to you and strength. This disease is a long road. LOve her and do not believe that she doesnt know you are there. I feel deep in my heart and soul that my Father knew I was there until the end. It was the way he looked into my eyes.

Thanks. I wish I could be there for my mom. I am across the country, and really can't visit more than once a year. I already regret not being there for here, but I have a job and a family here, and I can't move them across the country right now. My worries about her forgetting me are when I call... Once I loose that, I really have no means of communicating with her, since I can't go visit and look into her eyes.

[Christiane]

Originally Posted by rcr

My mom has had Alzheimers for a few years now, and it is starting to get bad. I miss her and she is still alive. She still remembers me, but we really can't communicate in the way that we used to. I want to call her up and tell her all of my problems and the exciting things that DS is doing. All she can really deal with is talking about the weather and stuff like that. We used to have great conversations, I miss that. She is my only family besides DH and DS. It is only going to get worse. Someday she will not even remember me.

I know I should be happy that she is still alive, but I want the old mom back. She is so different, it is like my old mom is gone already.

I could have written this! I know all about "weather conversations"! I want my old mom back too. She was diagnosed when my dd was 2 mo old and has progressively gone worse ever since. She's on Aricept too. She would have been such a great grandma. Now she doesn't even know how old her grandkids are. It's so sad

[Jessie123]

It's a horrible, horrible disease. My father died suddenly and unexpectedly when I was a child, and my mom has been suffering with AD and dementia for about 5 years now - this is so much worse... to watch her slowly drift away. She still recognizes me, but is never in 'reality'. She helped raise my older son, and it's sad to know she isn't able to enjoy my other two kids. She's been though so much n her life, and to now have to be burdened with seems so unjust. I certainly pray that God has a special place for her in heaven.

[dearmama22]

I'm so sorry.