Man, what a series of hits for you and your family to process. Sorry I didn’t comment earlier, but I’ve been staying out of the OT section during the holidays. You’ve got my deepest sympathies. It seems like we go through this life with long periods of things being “normal” and then, WHAM, our whole world is upended. Losing a parent, when it’s been a loving relationship, is really devastating. We lost my dad a few years back to prostate cancer. My mom is dealing with dementia and living in a memory care facility. I picked her up to bring her to the family Christmas Eve party and had to lift her legs to get her in the car. I’m not sure whether losing my dad while he was still mentally sharp, or losing my mom bit by bit to memory loss, is more difficult to experience. I hope you have some good time left with your mom. Best wishes to you and your family.
That’s a really tough series of events and an especially tough time of year to deal with it. Wishing the best for you and your crew.
Oops. Sorry i only read your first post. So sorry about your mom. My dad died from pancreatic cancer. I'm going to leave this recommendation up for anyone else who might know someone dealing with early dementia. I'm going to recommend The End of Alzheimer's Program by Dale Bredesen. That's a book. This guy is not a quack. It might be spendy to get diagnosed by his institute but they will figure out what type of dementia and lay out a program to stop decline and even reverse decline. Just reading the book, it's possible to figure out a lot and a person can get blood tests, possibly paid by medicare to figure out a lot more.
Glad to hear that she didn't have a stroke. Hopefully she gets the rest she needs, to get the strength to be alert and eat.
That's rough. I now understand what you're going through and went through with your parents. Thank you for sharing.
Massive stroke. We've decided to stop all treatments and medications except for pain meds. Nutritional and hydration IVs stopped. These decisions were made after discussions with her doctors based on their recommendations. All of this happened so fast.
So sorry to hear this. For what it's worth, my sister had ALS. When she was near the end her husband called her hospice care team and they helped to ease her pain at the end.
Man, this is crazy. Feels like the only positive here might be limited suffering on her part, but that's cold comfort for the rest of you.
I'm sorry for your loss. A buddy of mine just had a similar experience and his grandfather passed only a couple of hours ago. Taking his family some food and flowers tomorrow. He was a good man. Wish I could do the same for yours.
So very, very sorry John. As hard as this is for you, just know that we got you. Be there for your dad. Keep him occupied when you can, and give him his space when he needs it. As rough as this is on you, his world is being rocked in a whole different way. As much as you are hurting, he comes first. Use your grief to help ease his. Be there for him and we'll be here for you. God bless you, both your parents and your entire family. Please reach out if there is anything we can do.
I've been pretty introverted throughout this. Just trying to be strong for my dad and give him the strength and support he needs to face this and make some very hard decisions. But this morning I got up to fix coffee for Mrs PokerDog and myself. Since we were going to the hospital soon I decided to fix 6 cups instead of 8. Ground the beans for 6 but in my just waking up fog I poured in 8 cups of water instead of 6. And that's when I just lost it, my parents have been married for 60 years. My dad is going to make 1000s of little mistakes now. Fixing coffee for 2 people instead of 1, pulling out 2 dinner plates instead of 1, just so many little things you do when you've built a life with someone for so many years. I can help my dad with so much but I can't help him with that and that just crushes me. Sorry, I just needed to vent, have to get that out of my head before I get my game face on and go to the hospital. And thank you all for your kind words and for allowing me to vent.
You probably are already aware of this but.....if your mom had a pet, be sure to make time for it also. When my mom died, her dog went to the closet, pulled all her clothes off the hangers and made a nesting place he did not want to leave. It really ripped my Dad a new one, but that dog helped my dad get through it that time......and vice versa. Having said all that, I know you would be the last one to forget about a pet..........
