Marathon Mom

A.M. weigh-in: 155.8 (hmm… probably could have been worse, so I’ll be happy with that??!)

Yesterday I went with my mom to visit my grandparents. They are both 85. My grandfather has parkinsons and has a really hard time getting around. He’s losing his speech and is hard to understand. But his mind is still fully functioning and he’s as sharp as ever. Just his body won’t respond. My grandmother has Alzheimers. She cries a lot, repeats herself constantly, has forgotten how to read, and is quickly losing touch with reality. Physically, she’s in great shape. She swims every night now that the pool is open again and likes to go on walks. She tapped danced up until a couple of years ago. She’s always been very active and health-conscious and it shows. She probably has the heart health of a 50 year old, maybe even younger.

Time is cruel. Watching what’s happening to my grandparents is hard. These were vibrant, funny, energetic people (well, ok, not my grandpa so much, but my grandma was a real spitfire.) And now they are almost ghosts of their former selves. I don’t know which is worse, losing your mind but having your health. Or having an active mind trapped in an aging and unresponsive body. My grandma has little idea of what is happening to her while my grandfather is fully aware and helpless to do anything about it. He has fallen before and been unable to get up. My grandmother couldn’t cope with the situation and so left him on the bathroom floor and went to bed. He laid there for at least 12 hours before my mom happened to call. Even then, it took her about 20 minutes to get out of my grandma that something had happened.

That was last year and they have someone who comes to the house every other day to cook and clean for them. They refuse to allow live in help. They don’t even like having someone come at all. But grandma has forgotten how to cook and grandpa isn’t capable (he has a legitimate excuse now.) Grandma always took such pride in her home’s appearance. This has been a hard one for her. Grandpa just watches golf on tv all day and she just sits and stares. She’s been wandering into the neighbors’ homes.

My great grandmother had Alzheimers. She lived to be 98 years old. We may be going through this for a long time yet to come. Somewhere in my mom’s attic is a newspaper article with accompanying photo - 5 generations of women. My great-grandma, grandma, mom, me and my oldest daughter Cali. I need to dig that out and frame it. That’s pretty amazing, if you think about it.

Before I forget (cause I need to get back to work) here’s a link to my movie-review blog for Star Trek. It was amazing!!

Posted on May 9th, 2009 by firefly
Filed under: daily blathering