My name is Fanny and this page is about my mother. My mother died of Alzheimer’s disease on June 12, 1997. She had the disease for nine long years. At first she lived with my father until he could not handle her anymore. That is when my mother came to live with me. I took care of her with the help and support of my husband for three years until I was unable to lift her anymore. My mother stopped talking and walking altogether. We had to put her in a nursing home, which was close to our home. I went to see her every day to feed her an try to ease the pain of Alzheimer’s. She was in the nursing home for two and a half years before she passed away.
It is a very hard thing to do to put someone you love very much in a nursing home, but sometimes it is for the best, they tell me, I wonder. My mother was a very gentle person, even when the Alzheimer’s took over, which is very unusual.
In the final stage of Alzheimer’s disease you lose almost all intellectual abilities, almost all speech and motor coordination, and all memory. You recognize no one and remember nothing. The “self” is gone. Comfort care is all that is possible at this stage. You need to be bedded, bathed, fed, and protected from harm. This stage is heartbreaking, but research says the patient’s suffering is over, as he or she is no longer capable of understanding what is going on (Sometimes I wonder is this is true.).
To visit my website, Remembering My Mother, click here.
