This is a collection of snippets from another blog that I had. These are about the journey of watching your parents get older. 

MARCH 8, 2015

 

The last entry about my mother in law was awhile ago. I think it just became so painful I couldn’t write. It is no longer funny when you go to see her and she is going around and around in her wheelchair counting the times she puts her hand on the railing, and not even counting in order. It is no longer funny when you go see her and she doesn’t know anything but that she is in intense pain. It isn’t funny when you see a caregiver treat her in an uncaring manner; and when you understand the caregiver’s attitude since she has also tried to bite you.

She died almost a year ago. It was a sad blessing. My mother in law was in and out of the hospital. So was my dad. But the day came when both she and my dad went in the same day. I went one way and K the other. My father had fallen and broken his shoulder in three places, my mother in law had cellulitus and a UTI. My father’s brain was bleeding; my mother in law got c. diff. infection. I didn’t know if either of them would survive.

They both survived that crisis; but my mother in law died a week later. She was 98. She couldn’t see, hear, eat…. so yes it was a blessing. But I loved her very much and miss her every day.

My father also survived. Now, however, he may have entered the world of dementia. Strange how there are similar roads, yet different. I don't see much of anything at this point, but they did a screening, and apparently it showed "cognitive decline"

This time I know way more. I know the deep heartbreak ahead of time. But I also know how to talk to him. I know how to climb into his world.

I am thankful I have had my parents so long. I know I don’t get to keep them forever. Sometimes I can see ahead, and know where my dad is going… and rejoice. Right now it’s hard to watch the downhill journey..