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innerslytherinRealized today I haven't posted about Gedna for a while. For you recent flisters, Gedna is my Grandma Edna, and she's been suffering from dementia for some years now; last February we moved her into assisted living. She's still in the assisted living facility, and we're honestly surprised they haven't recommended she be moved to the full-time nursing home side yet.
Dad and Uncle took her presents at Christmas, all warm clothes, because she's always cold--she keeps her thermostat at 80 and is still wearing a sweatshirt and a sweater all the time. She apparently didn't understand why they were giving her presents, or that she got to keep them. Didn't grasp the concept of Christmas at all. Last Christmas she was still living on her own, of course, and she gave us all $100 each. Dad is in charge of her finances and apparently asked Uncle if he should give $50 a piece to the three grandkids, but Uncle said not to. *shrug*
A couple of weeks ago they told us she's going deaf, but we're not sure if there's any point in getting her hearing tested. We're not sure if she's cognizant enough to really take the hearing test, anyway. Mom pointed out that they give the three-year-olds hearing tests at the preschool at our old church...but Dad said he wasn't sure Gedna had the capacity to understand.
Apparently this weekend she began 'expressing herself violently', which is to say she was at dinner and said, 'I've always hated that kid. I oughta kill him.' Or something to that effect. Apparently it upset some of her table partners, who are some of them quite mentally bright seniors who just are physically frail.
The hardest part about this whole thing isn't watching her decline myself. Frankly I have never felt any emotional attachment to her, partly because she moved away when I was so young, and partly because she was always manipulative and bossy, and partly, quite honestly, because my mother never liked her. I still think it's sad to see someone lose their mental faculties so completely, and it's terrifying knowing that there's a very good chance I'll lose my father to Alzheimer's when he's old. The worst part is watching my dad have to deal with all this. Particularly since we're dealing, at the same time, with Uncle's divorce from the horrible bitch, as well as the Uncle being out of a job. I adore my father, and he's prone to depression in the best of times, let alone when he's taking care of his father and worried about his little brother.
Dad and Uncle took her presents at Christmas, all warm clothes, because she's always cold--she keeps her thermostat at 80 and is still wearing a sweatshirt and a sweater all the time. She apparently didn't understand why they were giving her presents, or that she got to keep them. Didn't grasp the concept of Christmas at all. Last Christmas she was still living on her own, of course, and she gave us all $100 each. Dad is in charge of her finances and apparently asked Uncle if he should give $50 a piece to the three grandkids, but Uncle said not to. *shrug*
A couple of weeks ago they told us she's going deaf, but we're not sure if there's any point in getting her hearing tested. We're not sure if she's cognizant enough to really take the hearing test, anyway. Mom pointed out that they give the three-year-olds hearing tests at the preschool at our old church...but Dad said he wasn't sure Gedna had the capacity to understand.
Apparently this weekend she began 'expressing herself violently', which is to say she was at dinner and said, 'I've always hated that kid. I oughta kill him.' Or something to that effect. Apparently it upset some of her table partners, who are some of them quite mentally bright seniors who just are physically frail.
The hardest part about this whole thing isn't watching her decline myself. Frankly I have never felt any emotional attachment to her, partly because she moved away when I was so young, and partly because she was always manipulative and bossy, and partly, quite honestly, because my mother never liked her. I still think it's sad to see someone lose their mental faculties so completely, and it's terrifying knowing that there's a very good chance I'll lose my father to Alzheimer's when he's old. The worst part is watching my dad have to deal with all this. Particularly since we're dealing, at the same time, with Uncle's divorce from the horrible bitch, as well as the Uncle being out of a job. I adore my father, and he's prone to depression in the best of times, let alone when he's taking care of his father and worried about his little brother.
