Fast Forward

I don't know if I've ever mentioned much about my grandmother - Grammacy, my mom's mom.

She has Alzheimers, but up until recently had been fading rather slowly. First she lost words, then had trouble reading, followed by not being able to read a clock or change the channel on a TV.

But just recently she took a huge turn for the worst. It started out with a fall down the stairs, apparently when she forgot what they were. That resulted in a dislocated ankle, broken in two places.

Unfortunately, this only seemed to accelerate the dementia. If she couldn't see the injured leg she thought people had taken it from her. Then she thought her bad leg was her brother and her good leg was her sister - Grammacy was an only child.

Today things went from bad to worse. While alone in her room, she tried to prove that she could walk. This resulted in a broken hip, the other leg.

Luckily my mother was already headed east to lend my aunt, who has been trying to handle the whole thing alone, a much-needed helping hand.

Things aren't good. It seems as if my aunt, now my mom, and the doctors and just trying to sick the fingers in the wholes my grandmother has sprouted.

Up until now the damage from alzheimers hasn't been so, well for lack of a better word, damaging.

It feels like someone hit fast forward on her illness and none of us know when the movie will end.