Hey Sup Forums, have a beer with me

Hey Sup Forums, have a beer with me.

I just found out my dad's got Alzheimer's. I don't know much about it other then that it's inherited genetically, so I'll probably get it later.

I just graduated and am looking for a job, so I went and got some professional pictures taken for social media and job sites. I got the results via email and showed them to dad. We spent 5 minutes or so going through them, and he'd comment on which ones he liked most, and how my tie wasn't tight enough in some. I emailed them to both mom and dad, and today my mom decided to get some printed out at CVS. She left them out on the counter for dad and me to see. I happened to be at the counter when my dad saw them, and the first thing out of his mouth:
>WOW! Where'd you get these? They look great!

I explained that we just took the digital pictures and got them printed on nice paper, but just stood there with a blank expression. He had no idea what I was talking about. So I gave him a hug and he went down to the basement, and I came up to my room to post this.

Anyone here have similar experiences? I'm not feeling great right now, thanks for helping me get this off my chest.

bump

I am there with you. My father past away feb of 2015 because he refused to eat. My mother lives in a home with capgras. A type of dementia. They live for a little while. Whilst being dead. its exceptionally difficult. I have lost a few jobs due to mine own depression. A a feeling of a inability to do what should be best for them. Its not easy man. Nor will it get any easier.

My grandma had it. Eventually they forget you. My grandma didn't know me but could remember stuff that happen to her as a kid. Would even relive childhood memories. She would call black nurses niggers cause that's how it was when she was a kid. Also would only eat off blue plates until she forgot how to eat.. shitty disease man. Super sad to watch.

sorry to hear that nigger,

but chins up because they will have a cure for alz by the time you get it.

My grandmother is on a lot of medication for her diabetes. Her mind is basically not there. My dad has been visiting her a lot, and there are days she doesn't recognize him. On the days that she is better, she remembers my old sister, but she has no idea who I am, and she hasn't remembered me for months.
I know it's not personal, but it hurts a lot. I was never close with her, she was a pretty bad person back in the day, and she did this to her self. She was rude to me and my mother, because we didn't look like her. She had that elitist Russian Jew mentality, that she was the best, meanwhile she has lived off food stamps for the past 15+ years. My sister was always close with her, because my sister was a near genetic copy of her. I was always taller, skinnier, prettier, and I looked more Slavic than I did Jewish, and she resented me for it, just like she hated my mother. She wasn't bad to me, just didn't like me as much, and had very little part in my life.
It shouldn't bother me that she forgotten me, but it does. She probably doesn't have long left to live, and she is going to die not knowing who I am. It's like I was never there.

op here, talking to dad about RNC.

Dad, you forgot again. YOUR dad died in 1986. YOU were diagnosed with Alzheimer's almost 3 years ago. And you didn't "just" graduate, I did - last year. I think it's time for your nap.

I wonder of thats what its really like, user.

It's weird how memory works sometimes. My grandmother didn't recognize any of her own children towards the 'end', but when I saw her alive for the last time on her 83rd birthday, she looked straight into my eyes and said "oh user, you drove all the way home from school just to see me?" and it fucking crushed me. I will never forget that moment for as long as I live. For her, every single person in that room was basically a stranger except for me. Then she started crying, and getting confused, and I just held her hand and put my head on her shoulder. About a month later I had just come home from exams and we got the call. Man, I miss her.

I'll have a beer with you user.

QUADDDDDDDS

Yeah pretty much

Do you mind me asking how she died? Does it come down to a choice thing?

Also checked.

Duuuuubs

I wonder if kek blesses those with Alzheimer's

She died in her bed own bed, in her own home one morning shortly after eating breakfast. My aunt was there taking care of her (aunts & uncles had shifts) and she just kind of breathed out and didn't breathe back in. No urgency or anxiety. It was like she just kinda left.

All I remember that morning was getting there as fast as I could around 7:45 or so and spending as much time in the room alone with her as I could before the hospice workers took her away. I found her little shit boombox with all her favorite songs my uncle had burned onto a cd, and put "I will always love you" by Dolly Parton on repeat while crying my eyes out.

It was weird because everyone was in the living room making arrangements with the funeral home and I was just alone, sitting next to her lifeless body.

My father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and Vascular Dementia 2 years ago. Heartbreaking to see the deterioration since then. His working memory is completely fucked- same conversations every 10 mins, incontinence, swallowing reflex fucked, won't eat or drink, irritability/frustration etc.
My only advice is to appreciate the moments with him. Whether he remembers them or not. Those individual happy "now" times.
My heart goes out to you mate.

:(

That's surprisingly comforting. Even though Alzheimer's slowly eats you and your loved one away, it sounds like there's no pain, just death.

Really sorry for your loss. It fucking hurts thinking about how this has now officially started happening to my dad today.

That's how my dad's mom went. She was something like 70 pounds in her last days. She contracted pneumonia which I think ended up killing her. I've never actually asked my dad about the details of it, nor have I thought to.

OP here, abandoning thread. Thanks for the beers.

It's a terrible illness mate. My dad is still in the relatively early stages but I've worked as a nurse for 20 years and I've seen exactly what he is heading for.
He has unrelated heart problems so I find myself kind of hoping that before he gets to lying in a pool of his own piss and shit choking to death on his food a massive heart attack will take him before he suffers that indignity.
But right now I still take him out to our local pub for a few pints and a bet on the horses and will continue to do so until he is no longer physically capable.
Take the moments while you have them.