My mom came to live with me in 2004. When she turned 90 in 2002 she was starting to show signs of short term memory loss. By 2004 she knew she couldn’t live by herself. She lived with me until 2010 when she passed.
Through it all, she never lost her sense of self but the dementia slowly started erasing her long term memory as well. In those six years she was with me she twice had what happened to Kathy. One day she got up from bed and she knew everything that had been going on. Absolutely tack sharp. After a few days she reverted to her dementia condition. This happened the first time after about six months of living with me. It happened again after a couple of years and didn’t last as long.
It was staggering and amazing when this happened. It was like a switch had been turned on. A reboot of the cortex? And why? What is this fog of dementia that can be swept away for a short period of time? Our brains are truly incredible things.
In 2010 she woke up one day in February and sounded funny breathing. We had a nurse who visited and she came by and said her lungs sounded a bit funny and she should go into the hospital for some checks. Everything checked out okay but the staff wanted her to spend one more night under observation. Mom was the sweetest person but she could get indignant when she wanted to. Her last words to me when I told her the hospital wanted to her stay one more day were, “You mean I have to spend another night here!?” She was quite miffed. She stopped breathing that night.
My mom came to live with me in 2004. When she turned 90 in 2002 she was starting to show signs of short term memory loss. By 2004 she knew she couldn’t live by herself. She lived with me until 2010 when she passed.
Through it all, she never lost her sense of self but the dementia slowly started erasing her long term memory as well. In those six years she was with me she twice had what happened to Kathy. One day she got up from bed and she knew everything that had been going on. Absolutely tack sharp. After a few days she reverted to her dementia condition. This happened the first time after about six months of living with me. It happened again after a couple of years and didn’t last as long.
It was staggering and amazing when this happened. It was like a switch had been turned on. A reboot of the cortex? And why? What is this fog of dementia that can be swept away for a short period of time? Our brains are truly incredible things.
In 2010 she woke up one day in February and sounded funny breathing. We had a nurse who visited and she came by and said her lungs sounded a bit funny and she should go into the hospital for some checks. Everything checked out okay but the staff wanted her to spend one more night under observation. Mom was the sweetest person but she could get indignant when she wanted to. Her last words to me when I told her the hospital wanted to her stay one more day were, “You mean I have to spend another night here!?” She was quite miffed. She stopped breathing that night.
Virtual hugs to you, John.
Beautiful, John. Heart wrenching and beautiful.