[Lpierleo]

This post has pulled ay my heart strings in a way you can not imagine. My mother, who is 78 is in the last stages of Alzheimer's. If you watch someone living like this, it is agonizing. My parents have been married for 57 years and my dad who is 77 is her primary care giver day in and day out. He made a promise to her and we can not get him to break it. She is still living at home, fully bedridden, thinks my dad is her father. We feed her, wash her and try to make her comfortable. She can not carry on a conversation and doesn't typically know who I am. She just wants "Dad". I feel I truly lost my mom 3 years ago, and my father is "My Hero". I worry about him so much. He fell the other day outside on the patio and took a big hit to the head. I was so thankful I was there. I carefully laid him back, resting his head in the ivy and went to get a cloth for his face and grab my phone. The first thing he said to me was not to tell my mother, because she will worry. He cracked his wrist and had a good shiner. His one eye was closed for about a week, but my mother doesn't remember. She did tell him one night, she loved him no matter what he looked like. This is a story of true love and "until death do we part.". I truly know my dad is doing everything he can to fulfill a promise but so so worried it is going to take him as well. The only thing I can do now is to support his wishes and help as much as I can, which fortunately for me is daily. I miss my mom so much and if there was a drug for her, we would try it in a heartbeat! Thank goodness for any advancements coming our way.

BTW, this may sound defensive, but my mom led a healthy lifestyle and is a breast cancer survivor as well. She did not deserve for her last years to be like this, nor should anyone else!


Respectfully,
Linda