Alzheimer's

I work in an Assisted Living facility. This means I assist people in daily living activities. I help them go to the bathroom (they usually can bear some weight on their legs), get ready for bed, help them get up and ready for the day, shower, etc. There are many reasons people end up in an assisted living facility. It is usually an accumulations of many things and the families get frightened for there elders. These people are forgetting to wipe, take their medications, are at a risk for falling, etc. So, they end up in an assisted living facility.

There is one lady that has Alzheimer's Disease. She has finally reached a point where she has forgotten how to get up. She has spent the last 3 days in bed. She is slowly forgetting how to eat. We have been trying to feed her easy food like yogurt or ensure. She now where's diapers because she can't go to the bathroom any longer. We change her in bed.

It is this type of person that makes it hard for me to do what I do. I look at this lady and hope to God that this never happens to me or to any of my loved ones. It is hard to watch someone totally forget how to do something as simple and as natural as eating. I mean, we are born knowing how to suck to eat.

I knew that Alzheimer's was bad. I knew that people with it forget a lot of important things like who their family is. (This women told me she doesn't have any kids~she has two sons). I had NO idea that people forgot how to eat.

I hope that this woman is able to pass away quickly.