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Well written Medina.  And accurate.

My Dad was my dude. That guy taught me how to fish, play golf, be successful in business, play football, baseball, basketball.  He taught me how to Treat people with generosity and respect and dignity, especially women.  He taught me how to run a business and the guy never took a nap in his life. If there was a crack in the driveway he poured the cement. If mom wanted a new deck built in the backyard he dug the holes, put in the posts and build the deck.  And on and on.

His Parkinson’s, which brought on dementia, slowly took him away and killed him but by the end it was is if only his body was there anyway. It was extremely painful to watch.

I’m thankful every day for what he gave me and the 80 years he graced this place.

I had an Uncle that passed away from this about a month ago. His wife was my father's sister, so not a blood uncle but one by marriage.

His was pretty quick. About 5 years ago it was becoming noticeable. He'd ask you what you had to eat about five minutes after you just got done telling him about it. Fast forward a few years, and he doesn't even recognize his own children. My aunt also has an adult daughter that lives with her due to mental incompetency. So they made quite the trio. My 80 year old aunt would have to drive them both around and order their food at a restaurant. She had to do all of the thinking for all three of them.

There was a certain card game that he liked, he remembered how to play it all the way up until the bitter end, and he really had a great time playing it. He would start cracking jokes and interacting on a fairly normal level again. So I recommend trying this. Break out the Uno cards or whatever game they might like, and see if they can still play. If it works, you won't regret it.

My Aunt never put him into a care facility. She wouldn't hear of it. It was admirable, but might have led to an earlier demise as he eventually fell down the stairs a few months back and only lived about six weeks after that. But he got to die at home surrounded by loved ones. We just buried him last week.

Medina,

I really appreciate you meeting with me on your trip to Lincoln back then.  Moments and memories like those are what life is all about.

I don't think there's a "better" way to lose someone, quickly or slowly.  Maybe better for some people that deal with loss differently.

Hang in there!

I lost my grandmother to Alzheimer's. The hardest part for me was to see my family fight over how to manage her end of life and her meager possessions.

Condolences Medina.

My grandfather (dad's side) had Alzheimers. It had started out as little things, but it started getting worse after about a year or two.  He "retired" from engineering to become a farmer in NC (while I was living in California), but I spent a couple of months out there one summer helping work the farm.  I remember that one day he had to go run an errand and there was a phone call at the house that I answered.  The phone call was from a church member who was double checking as to whether my grandfather was ready to speak at the funeral that day.  When my grandfather returned home, I forgot to tell him about the call for about 20 minutes, and he nearly screamed at me (which he had NEVER done before) for not telling him sooner.  I was probably about 14 at the time, and I didn't realize till years later that he wasn't mad at me, he was mad at himself, because he had forgotten that his best friend of 10 years had died four days before.

The worst were his "good" days.  Some days, he would have enough cognizance to realize where he was, and what he had lost.  Those are the days that he would cry and be nearly inconsolable.  His "bad" days were better because at least he was a little happy.

I lost my grandmother to Alzheimer's. The hardest part for me was to see my family fight over how to manage her end of life and her meager possessions.

Condolences Medina.