The people in our lives are precious, and the time we get with them is undefined. Never take for granted a single moment you share with them.
When one hears a negative medical report of someone they love the immediate response is heartbreak. But along with the initial shock and sadness comes a slight feeling of optimism as the doctor should then begin to share a treatment option with the patient and their family. But as we all know too well, the so common disease of Alzheimer's has no cure. There are medications to "slow down" the process of Alzheimer's, but we all knew the moderate and then severe symptoms of this unstoppable disease would soon take over my sweet grandmother's life.
Living four hours away made it hard to see the gradual forgetfulness she experienced, it seemed she was so much worse than the last time every time I saw her. It went from simple but noticeable things such as pulling out a dollar bill and using it as a tissue, to drastic things like trying to escape from her own house at night because she did not recognize where she was. After the decision was made that she needed to be living in a nursing home, the disease of Alzheimer's took her memory of who anyone was. Visiting my grandmother was hard when she would look at me as if I were a stranger. She thought I was her nurse once. Another time she told me I reminded her of her granddaughter. And once she refused to see me at all. Her speech began to be hard to understand as she would forget easy words and common phrases until she was unable to speak at all. Her final four years of life were lived out in that nursing home.
On November 22, 2014, I attended the funeral of an admirable woman who should have had many more wonderful years of life lived out. She was taken from us much too soon in one of the most painful ways to watch someone go. It isn't fair the way she had to leave this world. It isn't fair that an uncurable disease took so much from her before taking her life. My grandmother might have left this world with a faded memory, but I know the memory of her will never fade away.
You will forever be in my heart Meme, I love you to heaven and back.
