This past weekend, I went with my mother (and son) to my Great Aunt's house. This was my maternal grandmother's sister who, for a good portion of my life, was a surrogate grandmother. Don't get me wrong. I loved my grandmother dearly, but my Aunt R (to protect the innocent)was always such a sweetie and would seemingly drop anything and everything to help us.
She is now at the beginning stages of alzheimers. It's killing my mom. Recently, she was in the hospital for gall stones and ended up having her gall bladder removed. She's 74 and is having problems remembering things. Names mostly. She didn't remember the conversations we'd had 2 minutes after we'd had them. She gets confused so easily. It's hard not to talk to her and burst into tears b/c you know what's coming next.
This disease is so cruel. She is the third person I've known and my second blood relative (that I know of) to have it. It robbs you of your life. The only good thing about it (if I have to try and find a good thing) is that by the middle-end of it you seem to remember only the good times and the bad times just seem funny.
My great-grandmother (Aunt R's mother) had it and I remember being a kid and going to her house and at first you would only have to remind her who you were once. Then, it was every once in a while. Then, it progressed (or regressed) to her not remembering anything but the past. It completely steals away your short-term memory. That part is what's hard.
On the other hand, wouldn't it be nice if we could only remember the good parts in life and forget the bad, but still benefit from the learning experience without having to deal with the pain? What a wonderful world this would be. Although, how can you appreciate the good without the bad...and all that blahhh! I still think sometimes there are bad things that happen that should be allowed to be wiped out. Kind of like "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (preferrably without Kirsten Dunst jumping on my bed in her undies...but that's just a personal preference).
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