BarbaraH

I'm in! What a good idea. I, too, freak if I forget whose who has AD and all the rest of the connections we each have!!

I'm Barbara, still an only child , and I live in VA. My elderly mother had AD, beginning when she was about 84 (in my writing here, that age keeps changing as I think back and wonder when it really did begin!). I lived in TX when Mom caused us to become very, very concerned about her in 2001. I moved her into an ALF until we could move here after our younger son graduated from high school 5 months later. As it turned out, by July 2002 she was in no condition to move in with us as that time had passed. She forgot how to walk in January of '03. Despite a good appetite, she lost a frightening amount of weight in the summer of '04 and died Sept. 2, 2004. I had read that at the end, the brain forgets how to direct digestion, so weight is lost. That somewhat prepared me for her death. I miss her, but I missed her before she was completely gone, too.

I hate AD and my opinion is to do whatever works, use whatever medicines fix the problems, and addiction is okay since AD is terminal. I appreciate that my mother had already done the paperwork to give me DPOA and handed me a copy of her Living Will 15 years ago so I knew her wishes when I needed to decide about a feeding tube. Mom would have said no. I said no.

I'm here to give what help I can in memory of my mother, Dorothy, 2/29/16 to 9/2/04.

About me: I'm 54, retired because of lupus and its total fatigue (bother!), my DH and I have been married for almost 34 years (he's 8 days older than I am), our unmarried sons are 26 and 21, and I am a quilter! Love that fabric!!

Blessings to each of you and to your bundles - Barbara