The Morning After

My heart is heavy.

Yesterday, we took my mother in law to her new home…a room in the memory care wing of an assisted living facility. It wasn’t possible to talk to her about this ahead of time. To explain, to reassure, to ease her mind. Anything we told her would have been forgotten within two minutes. That’s the sad reality of Alzheimer’s. Her husband of sixty-two years–my father in law–was diagnosed with  blood cancer just as her Alzheimer’s was escalating to the point of necessitating 24 hour care. This morning, his heart and immune system weakened by chemotherapy, he is in a hospital ICU, fighting cancer, pneumonia, and a dangerous spike in his blood sugar, while his wife is waking up in a room completely unfamiliar to her, sure of only one thing: for some reason, her husband is not with her. She will ask for him every few minutes, all day long, for many days to come. She will wait for him indefinitely. And even if, at some point, she stops asking for him, she will love him forever. This much I know is true.

For information about Alzheimer’s, including ways to help find a cure:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/alzheimers-research-volunteers/MY02005

http://curealzfund.org/donate

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57360569/finding-a-treatment-for-alzheimers-by-2025/