Last Friday I flew to São Paulo to visit family before going to an annual meeting in a small city near there. On Saturday I visited my paternal grandparents, both now over 80 years old, at my aunt's house. It was their wedding anniversary.
Since I grew up all over the place, I never had much contact with my grandparents. Every two years or so we would spend a couple of weeks in São Paulo visiting them, but that was enough for me to see how mentally sharp my grandmother was. She tackled and learnt English on her own at a time when virtually nobody spoke it in Brazil, and made a living teaching English to others. She was a voracious reader, and as a child whenever I visited her it seemed like hundreds of new books had simply sprouted out of the wooden bookshelves.
Reality hit me hard on Saturday. I knew from that part of the family that she wasn't well, but I didn't anticipate seeing her face twist into an expression of extreme confusion mid-sentence, nor see her ask her own daughter who she was. After I told her that I was her eldest granddaughter she seemed genuinely happy to see me, and seemed to know details of the day I was born, but at other times she would confuse me for my sister.
Of course, I didn't take any of it personally. I know Alzheimer's is a terrible disease, but it really saddened me to see someone who was so intelligent wither away like that.
It's truly frightening to see. To think, could that be me in another thirty years?
That really sucks. We're going through this with my MiL, but my FiL was sharp when he died at 85 from heart disease. My parents died at 58 (dad) and 65 (mom) from tobacco use, so I don't know of any relatives who lived long enough for dementia to settle in.
My Mom was a victim of that dreadful malady. I was her keeper in the latter stages. That was a most unpleasant period of my life and certainly, of hers.
After she became incontinent I had to clean her and clothe her and give her shower baths. That was a delicate matter because a man is not comfortable to have to attend the personal matters of his naked mother. She passed away as a result of her illness. She was 87 years old and had had a reasonably happy prior life.
I sympathize with the families and the victims of that terrible disease.
It's awful. You have my sympathies. My mother in law is totally gone now. :(
That really sucks. When my grandfather was nearly 102 he suffered from a form of dementia to the point that he forgot that he was an artist and had been professionally painting since he was a young man. When asked what he used to do he said he was a watchmaker, which had been his original profession until he went full time painting sometime after the Second World War. He lasted until he was 102 and the dementia was really only for the last few months of his life but it was sad nevertheless. I have had several fanily members, both by blood and marriage, who have suffered dementia. It is indeed very sad to see, as you put it Silver, someone fade away. This disease is no respecter of the sufferer's accomplishments in life or their intelligence. I hate it.