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March 22, 2006
From crazy to The Lion King, who's unbalanced here?
My grandmother is losing her mind.
Not in the crazy way, but she's losing it all the same. My grandmother has always been sharp as a tack. At family meals, she would ask thoughful, political questions of us, or riddle-like logic problems. She met my grandfather when he was her teacher at MIT.
Now, she orders a glass of wine with dinner, and when they bring it, she wonders why they didn't bring her coffee. By the time the food came, she had no idea what she had ordered. She tells stories from the past, but they're someone elses stories she's repeating, not realizing she was never there. She'll ask the same question three times in 10 minutes.
At first, the forgetfulness was random and rare enough that I thought she just wasn't paying attention to me when I talked. I used to get snippy with her repeated questions. It's taken some time and work to get it through my head that she isn't being rude. And now that it's gotten worse (so much worse it seems, and so fast), it's easier to be patient, but hard not to pity.
Jamie doesn't understand, not that she's been asking questions. The only impact it's had on her so far was when my grandmother was talking to her, but calling her Katie. Jamie didn't answer, of course, because as far as she was concerned, she hadn't been asked anything. Us crazy adults are always asking Katie questions she can't answer. My grandmother actually got short with Jamie for not answering, until I explained why. I'm not sure she's gotten the girl's names right since that time.
As far as I've been told, there has been no diagnosis or treatment. No one has looked into whether this is Alzheimer's or Oldtimers. I don't know enough about Alzheimer's and it's treaments to know if it would make any difference if there was a confirmation.
I've been very fortunate not to have to deal with much death in my family, unexpected or circle of life. I have the feeling the next five years or so are going to be hard in so many, many way.
Posted by me at March 22, 2006 9:49 PM
Comments
That must be so heartbreaking for you. Just take one day at a time.
Posted by: Rhonda at March 23, 2006 8:41 AM
My grandmother has become a shell. It`s hard to watch. Hang in there.
Posted by: L. at March 31, 2006 12:37 AM
In some ways, moving away will make it easier on me, since I won't be there to see her decline. It's also harder, since I won't be around to help out, and I'm sure the shock of seeing the changes of large blocks of time will suck.
Posted by: Becky at April 1, 2006 9:39 PM