When The Window Closes: What I learned caring for my mom while she was alive and dying
This memoir is a labor of love dedicated to my mom, Bobbie Lee. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in late 2013, and though she did not live near me, as a family, we agreed to move her to Oregon, and I would step in to care for her until my sister moved back to Oregon to help. I learned so much in my six years as my mom’s family caregiver, and that’s what this memoir is about.
I struggled with resentments, judgments I made about myself, and my fears. Fears of my mother and the fears I faced as she faded away. I learned what I could about the grief cycle and tried to understand and prepare for major Alzheimer’s events, like my mom forgetting who I was. But no matter what I did and how much I tried to prepare for, life had other ideas.
Even in the end, when I was just a nice lady who came to visit her, I was ready to be there for her, no matter how many years she had left. I knew I’d be by her side and hold her hand as she left this earth. But nothing I did prepared me for what actually happened.
All my best-laid plans crumbled around me, and I had to use everything I’d learned to get through the worst thing I could never have imagined.
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