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thewayneWhen I go to Las Cruces, I/we stay with my dad's sister, Odella. She's a really nice woman, definitely my favourite aunt. Her husband was very cool, they moved to 'Cruces literally next door to my dad's parent's house and another sister's, sort of an "L" arrangement of houses. Unfortunately her husband died suddenly after a fairly minor operation when a blood clot broke loose and nailed him, that was probably mid-late 80's. She's been doing fine, living alone. But now problems are starting to arise...
Odella has a problematic memory.
It's not a Memento-type thing, but it still seems pretty nasty.
Another aunt in Texas is about to be put in a nursing home. She has Alzheimer's and is not doing well. A few months ago I saw her in 'Cruces with her son and daughter, along with my parents and the Las Cruces chapter of relatives. We visited one of my dad's sisters who is in an adult community and is basically wheelchair-bound from morbid obesity. Afterwards we went out for dinner, and I watched my Texas aunt get increasingly befuddled, frustrated, and flat-out angry at the menu. It took three people and a moderate amount of shouting to get her to understand that there was chicken strips on the menu and she could have that.
Odella doesn't have Alzheimer's. I'm not sure what she has, but basically she has problems forming short-term memories. Case in point, when I was there last week she asked me three times (possibly four) if I was going to or from Phoenix. I told her each time that I was just down from Cloudcroft for the day and that I'd be going back there the next day.
The odd thing is that she's still mentally very sharp. No wandering in conversations, speaks well, can discuss topics rationally, etc. No mental slow-down at all, but she doesn't remember things. Another case in point, she received a call from her niece telling Odella that her sister-in-law, the aunt with Alzheimer's, would be put into a nursing home in the next week or two. An hour later, her nephew called and asked her if anyone had contacted her about this. She didn't remember the call from her niece.
But she's still sharp. Very strange. It could be a medication issue where multiple drugs are compounding side-effects, but I don't know what she's on.
And then there's my mom. She turns 75 in a couple of weeks, and she's slowing down a bit. I think part of it is that she's been put on drugs to control petit mall epilepsy. Unfortunately she recognizes that it's slowing her down, so that's more than a bit depressing in and of itself. And my parent's 50th anniversary is this year, so that'll be cool.
Anyway, enough depression. At least my wife should probably be home in the morning, she arrived in Phoenix about 3:30 this morning, I expect she'll probably leave tonight. It'll be good to be together again.
Odella has a problematic memory.
It's not a Memento-type thing, but it still seems pretty nasty.
Another aunt in Texas is about to be put in a nursing home. She has Alzheimer's and is not doing well. A few months ago I saw her in 'Cruces with her son and daughter, along with my parents and the Las Cruces chapter of relatives. We visited one of my dad's sisters who is in an adult community and is basically wheelchair-bound from morbid obesity. Afterwards we went out for dinner, and I watched my Texas aunt get increasingly befuddled, frustrated, and flat-out angry at the menu. It took three people and a moderate amount of shouting to get her to understand that there was chicken strips on the menu and she could have that.
Odella doesn't have Alzheimer's. I'm not sure what she has, but basically she has problems forming short-term memories. Case in point, when I was there last week she asked me three times (possibly four) if I was going to or from Phoenix. I told her each time that I was just down from Cloudcroft for the day and that I'd be going back there the next day.
The odd thing is that she's still mentally very sharp. No wandering in conversations, speaks well, can discuss topics rationally, etc. No mental slow-down at all, but she doesn't remember things. Another case in point, she received a call from her niece telling Odella that her sister-in-law, the aunt with Alzheimer's, would be put into a nursing home in the next week or two. An hour later, her nephew called and asked her if anyone had contacted her about this. She didn't remember the call from her niece.
But she's still sharp. Very strange. It could be a medication issue where multiple drugs are compounding side-effects, but I don't know what she's on.
And then there's my mom. She turns 75 in a couple of weeks, and she's slowing down a bit. I think part of it is that she's been put on drugs to control petit mall epilepsy. Unfortunately she recognizes that it's slowing her down, so that's more than a bit depressing in and of itself. And my parent's 50th anniversary is this year, so that'll be cool.
Anyway, enough depression. At least my wife should probably be home in the morning, she arrived in Phoenix about 3:30 this morning, I expect she'll probably leave tonight. It'll be good to be together again.
no subject
Date: 2006-02-28 09:06 pm (UTC)Beside all of you guys? ;-)
Most of my people were insane from the get-go, so aging never changed them much, LOL. My grandma, who died in a nursing home at age 95, had an interesting double-reality thing going on toward the end of her life. She believed that her "husband" (never got out of her which one it was, as she outlived both of them) was at that very moment building her a brick house, which she didn't want because she liked stick construction. Other than that, she was pretty sharp, recognizing me when I visited although she hadn't seen me in almost 20 years, and remembering my father's name (who she probably hadn't seen in 40 years) and other details. Brains are odd things, aren't they?
At least there won't be any family for me to inflict any future ratcheted-up insanity on when I get feeble. I doubt Bill will outlive me, and I'll be free to gleefully abuse whatever institutions of government incarcerate me, if they take me alive. ;-)