Originally Posted by maleficent

my grandmother died of alzheimers/dementia complications when I was in my early teens.... Towards the end, I dont beleive that she was aware of what was happening to her. I was no longer her granddaughter, I was her childhood friend. Dementia/Alzheimers is much tougher on the caretakers than it is on the person who has it... becuase all that you knew -- slips away... My grandmother went from a very vivicaious elegant woman who wore chanel suits and had cool jewelry and blue rinses in her hair -- to an emaciated woman in a hospital bed who wore a diaper and couldn't feed herself. It was very difficult for my mother watching the woman who took c are of her -- have to totally rely on her for everything and not be aware of who she was.