So sorry for your loss. However, having lost my grandmother to crippling Alzheimer’s, I know I also felt relief that she was no longer in that prison.
My grandmother called the cops on my brother and I while we were mowing her lawn. When she realized what she had done she was inconsolable. Like I said. Worst fate. No one should be forced to live through that.
Damn very sorry to hear about that AleksandarN. The last two years have been hard and too many of us have lost people..
Terrible. It's scary to think how much our perception is created by our memory and when that goes much of us just goes.
This brought tears to my eyes. My heartfelt condolences to you, your Mom and the rest of your family. I bet your dad knew my dad. My dad was in charge of the Propulsion testing facility. My dad had good friends from different facilities out there and he worked with astronauts too. I think it was in 1964 when we moved from Denver to Houston after my dad got hired at NASA. He worked there until he retired. He was in a model airplane club there too and often rode his bike from Sagemont out to work. He hung a camera from a big kite he made and took pics of his building from the kite years ago. They had an explosion at his site a few years before he retired. He retired a year early because he had been sick. They called it Lupus for a few years, but discovered it was Lymphoma about 6 years later. I can't help but feel that explosion and chemicals might have caused his lymphoma. I think some other coworkers got ill too. Sad, but you never really know. Dangerous work. My dad would take no part in any medical suit like some others. That's just the kind of guy he was. He loved his job and his family. He grew up working on his father's farm in Nebraska, and didn't have a lazy or dishonest bone in his body. I idolized him. He didn't smoke or drink and didn't even get to enjoy retiring like he deserved. He worked hard his whole life and stayed fit. Sad. It's been 9 years since he passed away and I miss him so much. He always had a way of making me laugh, and he was a great dad. I understand your pain and your sorrow. I watched my father wither away to his death in that final month after they said there was nothing more they could do. It was heartbreaking. Your story brought back all that to me like it was yesterday. It's tough. Stay strong for your Mom. She needs you. My deepest sympathy to you and your family. It sounds like you've all endured years of pain, but now he rests in peace. Hopefully that helps gives you all comfort.
Thanks for sharing your Dad’s story. Sorry you lost him that way. These NASA men are a breed apart. Just some smart, go-getter types. My Dad also liked model airplanes with gas engines early in life. You would think our Dads might have known each other from work but those circles aren’t so small as they were in the beginning days. It’s possible, though. One thing some of those NASA guys liked to do back in the day, which includes some of the astronauts, is hit the local bars (or restaurant bars) after work to knock down some beers. I remember my Dad used to do M-W-F bar nights and then cut back to W-F later in his career. He also loved his red wine, especially when cooking Italian at home (perfect excuse). He didn’t drink much at all after he retired. Not sure whether that was a contributing factor? I recall one of those astronauts that died in the Challenger explosion had a drink with my Dad in the weeks prior. I believe he was the Chinese one. Dad also worked with a quirky fellow who loved to eat raw carrots and ride his ten-speed to work and everywhere. We always saw him riding around Clear Lake back in the day. He was like a thin stick of a fellow.
My condolences and great tribute. My grandfather had Alzheimer's and, while it took about 10 years for him, it was also brutally painful to see him like that. Just a horrible way to go but, glad to hear he lived a very full and long life before it got him.
It’s tough to think about it going on ten years for the caregivers involved. If it was really bad for the majority of that time, then it’s not unreasonable to want it over earlier. We honestly thought my Dad was going to go on living with this for at least a few more years. He seemed semi-stable for a period even though he talked in gibberish a lot. He would say words but not make sense. Sometimes, he would say a few words that sounded right and made sense. But, I guess once he could no longer eat solid food going back to earlier this year, I guess that was the sign that things would come to a head sooner rather than later. Then, this past weekend, he just couldn’t swallow anymore. Just like that. One of the worst parts was just seeing the toll on his physical body. He looked like he was in the Auschwitz camp. Then, I look at a guy like William Shatner at 90 just in awe at how well he looks for his age. That guy must be doing it all right.
You know how you learn things about your parents you didn't know for a long time until late in their lives...because they never shared it with you? When my Dad started at NASA in Hampton, VA, he had met my Mom in Charleston, SC where she was attending nursing school. My Dad used to drive around 500 miles each direction over the weekend to see her. Can you imagine driving 1,000 miles round-trip over a weekend to do that? But, he did it as he was smitten. He did it quite frequently, too...until she graduated and they were married. It didn't hurt that he had a love for automobiles. He had an old Volvo he used to work on and had mile badges stickers he attached to the front of the glove box. He had this beige stick-shift Volvo from 1970 or thereabouts well into the 90s and accumulated well over 250k miles on that car. I used to drive that thing. It was a fun car. He was so proud of that car and took great care of it.
So sorry for your loss. No one should have to go through Alzheimer’s. But like others have said he sounds like an incredible guy. Prayers to you and your family.
My sincere condolences. My mom died of Alzheimers. It is truly horrible and as someone said by the time she finally died (she was very very hardy physically) it was a relief to us all.
What a great tribute for a great man who lived a great life. You should take comfort in the knowledge that he is finally at peace. My sincere condolences to your family.
I didn’t want to hijack your thread when you posted but stories are seeming to help. My father-in-law was diagnosed two years ago. It’s a damn shame because he was very very smart (IQ north of 150 according to my wife’s aunt, who paid to have him and his brother tested because she has a PhD in education) Sadly, he can’t read anymore which was one of his favorite pastimes. He has trouble getting dressed. He had this imaginary argument with me earlier this year and I had to apologize to him and make up. They came over for dinner yesterday and he kept greeting me like he just walked in. He loves his grandkids to death and lives to see them. He can also still play the guitar, which is another of his loves. Question for those of you who have had to go through this: did you try any vitamin/supplement remedies? I’m big into Nootropics and several of them have been clinically proven to help. I would need to get the info to my mother in law then she would need to ask the doctor because they’re in the box people like that, but anything that could help I think they should try.
So sorry to hear this. My dad was one of the pioneers at NASA as well. In my opinion, our dad's were part of man's greatest achievement (putting a man on the moon and returning hone). I say this to you because it sounds like your dad had an incredible life!! Did you grow up in the Clear Lake area? Does your mom live close to you? Hang in there and will definitely say a prayer for you and your family.
I did grow up in the Clear Lake area in a home in one of the earliest subdivisions, Oakbrook. This was early 70s my parents moved there. It was my childhood home until 19 when I moved away to college. My mom is about an hour away from me living in Allen.
