Quote:
Originally Posted by Bay Kid
Mom survived for 16 years from this dreadful disease with the help of myself and Dad. Now I just have my 90 year old Dad. I feed him fairly healthy, but he loves his soft drinks, cookies and ice cream!
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Dreadful is right. Dementia is a thief, stealing what makes us, us, over time. Unfortunately the "miracle" of modern medicine has drawn out that time by years--often a decade--beyond the time when natural processes would have killed us.
Dad had dementia. Parkinson-related. From the time he was diagnosed to the day he died was eleven years. six of them in a nursing home. It was hard on Mom; she and my sister cared for dad at home for as long as possible but often the onset of dementia can include violence, which is what happened. Fortunately the nursing home where he spent his last years was in Las Vegas, state-of-the-art, and only a few miles away from the home of my sister so she and Mom could visit Dad frequently, monitoring his care and making sure things went as they should.
I remember my wife telling Mom how sorry she was about Dad. I'll always remember her reply. "The man I knew died years ago".