Narrative Essay On Alzheimer's Life

When I was nine years old, my father’s mother, my Nana, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. At the time, I had no idea how this would change my family. Soon after her diagnosis, her situation began to deteriorate. Soon she couldn’t drive or grocery shop or even give herself the medication she needed. My family cleaned out the room next to mine and we moved her in with us. At first, things weren’t very bad. At times it was great to have her live with us; she rarely visited us before even though she lived fairly close to us. At night we would go into her room and sit on her bed. She would bring over old picture frames and photo albums and tell me stories of the relatives I had never met and some stories of my father from when he was a kid. Then, she would pull out her Bible and read me a passage or two and show me all the records she had written in the front. They were all the records of all the births and deaths and marriages in the family stretching back to her parents. It was a nice and peaceful thing to do with her every night. But, all good things have to come to an end eventually. Soon, the stories began to repeat themselves more frequently, some stories began to become intertwined and the facts completely messed up and reversed. Closer to the end of my nightly visits she would tell me the same story over and over for two …show more content…
She could no longer bathe herself or use the toilet or even walk. Our house was not equipped to take care of her anymore. We had to send to an assisted living. Even while she wasn’t in our house, my family was still strained under the stress. I buckled under and became a crutch for my family. My family could count on me to listen and give a shoulder to cry on when things got difficult. When Nana died last November, I refused to cry at the funeral. My family needed someone to keep a level head during their period of grief. I had grieved for years, I was