The last week has been tough as we said Goodbye to my mother in law at age 75. She lived with frontotemporal dementia for 14 years, the diagnosis being in 2016 and her life in memory care beginning in 2019.
My father in law cared for her in their home, until his cancer diagnosis in 2019. The energy it took for him to receive treatments and also care for her was a LOT, so moving her to memory care was the best option. He eventually moved in on the Assisted Living side of her building and passed away in 2022.
In Sherry's last years she didn't recognize us and the last many months you could see her spark was gone. There are so many mixed emotions when someone with advanced dementia dies. I didn't mention anger in this episode, but that topped the list for the first few days. Incredibly angry that our family was ripped off of 5 years of memories with her. Moving into regret, relief, and sadness. Such a mixed bag.
In this episode I share about Sherry's final days and some of the emotions that surfaced.
www.michelemagner.com
