Grandma

My grandparents came into town for Easter weekend. These are my mom's parents; my dad's parents have long since gone. My grandma was diagnosed with Alzheimer's not too long ago, and it is more apparant every time I see her. According to the 7 stages found at Alz.org, I would say that my grandma is somewhere in the stage 3-5 neighborhood; I see different parts of each.

It all started a couple years ago when she had some kind of cancer that required radiation treatments to her face. The treatments basically burned her to the point where she was unable to eat or drink much of anything for several months. Thus, she lost a TON of weight. She was overweight, but now she's very underweight. Very underweight. Over the last several years, it's become harder and harder for her to get around, but when you only see her a couple times per year, it seems really bad. Her memory and hearing are failing as well. She generally rememebers things from more than about a year or two ago, but her short-term memory is pretty bad.

Back when she started losing weight, I thought she was going to starve to death or something. But eventually, she started eating again, and is no longer losing weight. (though, I don't think she's gaining any more weight) So, she will continue to lose memory; she will continue to lose her mobility; and she will continue to be oblivious to the whole thing. That's right, she knows that she has Alzheimer's, but she doesn't think she has any symptoms yet. If she forgets something, someone might say, "Maybe it's because of the Alzheimer's." But then my grandma would say, "No, I haven't had any symptoms yet. I'm just getting old." It's very frusterating.

But life will go on, she will get worse, and there will be nothing anyone can do about it. Until the end.