My Grandma

My poor grandma, I feel really bad for her. My grandpa died July 4th 1999 and my grandma did everything for him. I had never seen my grandpa's handwriting...to some it may sound weird wondering why I would care to see his handwriting, but I have always wondered what it looked like! After my grandpa died my grandma did ok on her own. She has always been a good homemaker and kept her house very clean. I always enjoyed going to her house when I was little.

The past few years she has REALLY gone downhill. She may have alzheimers or dementia and its so sad to see her the way she is now. Last summer my aunt and uncle found her in her bath tub very delirious and confused. She apparently got confused and turned her air conditioning UP instead of down (when it was 95 degrees outside) and when they found her it was 99 degrees IN HER HOUSE! The doctor's think she may have been in her tub for a couple of days before they found her and what she told them was she wanted to sit in the tub to cool down. My parents live 10 minutes from her and check on her as much as they can and my aunt and uncle live a block away and do the same. She was in the hospital for a couple of weeks last year and they found she has an aortic anuerysm and if she were to have surgery she would die. Its been growing slowly and therefore causing her memory problems. After she was released from the hospital she went to Bailey Place (an assisted living community) she got in there without any problems because my mom works for Sisters of Charity which is part of Bailey Place or something. Well, no one listened to my mom (my grandma is my dad's mom) because my mom thought it was best for her to stay at BP. My dad or aunt and uncle didn't want to do that because they would have to sell my grandmas home in order for her to stay at BP. So my grandma came home and now my aunt's sister takes care of her during the week.

Well, the other day my mom went to my grandma's and saw her dog was just skin and bones and looked like she was about to die. My mom suggested to my aunt and uncle to put the dog to sleep, but they didn't want to do that. Again since its not my mom's mom she doesn't want to overstep any boundaries and my dad didn't step in. Well, guess what! My aunt and uncle went to my grandma's the other day and they found her dog dead in the kitchen with feces all over and flys all over the dog. They called somebody to come get the dog and cleaned her house real good, but it shouldn't have happened. Who knows how long the dog had been dead and it must have smelled pretty bad too.

My mom went to check on my grandma today (my dad checks on her too and takes her to all of her doctor's appointments) and my mom said she looked like a homeless person. She washed her hair for her, she said it was filthy. While washing her hair, my mom dripped water down her back so she told my grandma she would need to change her clothes. Well, she changed her clothes alright! My mom said she stripped down naked in her kitchen!!!! Of course, not something my mom wanted to see.

It just makes me sad. Even though my grandma has been real mean and nasty to my aunt, uncle and dad. As well as my mom, she'll cuss them out and scream at them. She's kicked my aunt's sister out of her house several times and she's there to help her. And she's called my dad several times yelling at him on there answering machine because my dad keeps her checkbook and is in control of her money. She'll call yelling she wants her checkbook back and she is not capable of having it because she would bounce checks all the time. There all trying to help her and it makes it hard to help someone who is so mean! My grandma has never been mean to me or my sister, but she definitely played favorites to my cousin's when we were little. I REALLY don't care, because my cousin's are all screwed up anyway. Except for my cousin's Staci and Steve. And it really makes it hard for me to go visit my grandma and I feel really bad for that. But, I don't want to take my baby to her house with who knows what crawling around in her house! My grandma never wants to go anywhere either. My mom has offered to bring her to my house to see me, but she never wants to go anywhere. She has seen Olivia once and I was petrified because she held her and didn't support her head or anything. Myself and my mom made sure we were standing right there and had to help her hold her.


Again, I just feel really bad for my grandma to see her go downhill and I really wish my family could get it together and put her back into a nursing home or assisted living community. She would be so much better off.