[AT] Greenville Shows, bad times...

[Greg Hass]

I completely sympathize with Farmer's situation.  My dad has been gone a 
year and a half now after a 9 year battle with Alzheimer's.  He died at 81 
after coming down with it at the "young" age of 73.  My brother, I and my 
dad lived on 3 corners of a crossroad, so we were all within less than 400 
ft. of each other's homes.  Because of this, we were able to watch and 
check on him and he was able to stay in his home for 6-1/2 of the 9 
years.  We, too, had to make the decision to put him in a care facility 
when twice in a short period of time we found he had wandered 3/4 of a mile 
from home in cold weather without a coat.  My four sisters all objected, 
but they were not willing to help out and my brother and I had medical ane 
legal power-of-attorney.  We did not bring him into our homes as we all 
worked, and more importantly, the doctors told us that if we tried to take 
care of an Alzheimer's patient he'd bury us first.  When anybody mentioned 
being in a home, he did not even realize he was in a home.  A sad situation 
indeed.  Having been through it, my heart goes out to anyone who is still 
facing this problem with parents or spouses.

Greg Hass