My wife Dympna Clark White aka Bobbie started with diminta and ALZ took over 12 years ago. It is h... not being able to carry on a conversation with her not knowing what she was thinking, wanting, or anything I was her sole provider for over 11 years. We could not travel as we wanted to and had done every year. We would eat out at Lubys, Furrs, and the likes where I could get a little of this and that to see what she would like all other meals I fixed and hoped she would eat. She was a great cook and we would have a group of 16 to 24 friends/family every month, always a great get together. When she came down with ALZ It was a great lose for our family's. She loved to sew and made every thing anyone wanted made, in 1943 She was in Ft Worth sewing military Uniforms. While she was just sitting with something like a sheet or blanket she would be measuring and making ruffles as if she was still making something. I took care of her up until she broke 3 bones in her ankle by just turning from one counter top to the other one. putting up silver ware. From there it was all down hill. She spent time in BMAC drove a spike up thru her heal to hold the bones together some one pulled a cast off without carefully cleaning the spike off from the packing and pulled the spike out and oops just jammed it back in and caused infection. She went to Air Force Villi age for rehab .did good and we took her home 17 Nov 1014. At home we set up cameras where ever she would be laying sitting eating. We could monitor her what ever she was doing When she was asleep we would set the sensitivity up when ever she moved a leg/arm etc it would outline her movement. If she made a sound it would wake you up out of a deep sleep if you got one. It was a great tool we could not have done it without it. (advice get one that you can plug into and electrical out let, and one that can zoom in on their face and body) Biggest problem was when she would sleep 24 plus hours at a time it hard to take sometimes she would go for 34 hours, without the cameras to see her. She would never wet or drink eat etc for periods and it made you worry so. Even with the cameras you would go check on her. The other problem was she would just pass out any time, we called it being a wet noodle just limp and really hard to keep her from falling. It started when I would take her to the toilet she would sit a while and all at once she would collapse after a few times I called the nurse and she asked me not to do it any more my myself because we could both be hurt. I let them clean her up in bed. All the time I took care of her] She always told me when she had to go and never ever wet/BM in our bed. Once she broke her bones and the operation with medicine during surgery she lost a lot of things. No matter how bad it was she always had a smile on her face. She was never angry or yelling at any body. She was a sweet old lady no matter how bad she hurt. At home we had a 4 wheel walker to take her to the bathroom or mover her from one place to another, and later on when I could no longer lift her from bed to chair we used a 5 wheel typing chair with big wheel on it and tied the seat to one spot and moved her a lot easier that the big 4 wheeler. The bathroom doors was not wide enough 28 inches so the typing chair just rolled into the bathroom taking up a lot less space than anything else we tried. During all the time I was taking care of my wife both of my shoulders were messed up to where I could not lift any thing away from my body. When we got her home she sat down on a chair to close to the front and she was going to fall face down onto the floor I grabbed the arms of the chair and saved her from the fall but tour the tendon in right arm from shoulder to below the elbow, it hurt like.... but eased up a little later. I kept lifting her in and out of beds, chairs etc. She had lost so much weight that I was afraid to touch her because I have so much strength in my hands from being a mechanic that I would have to reach way behind her back and my left tendon pulled down to the mussel. I went to MIL hospital to see if I could get a brace so I could continue caring for her but no such luck. I talked them out of doing anything until my wife passed on, I still have not done anything about it but will as soon a I can clear up all lose ends. My daughter and I promised Bobbie that she would never be alone and never go to a nursing home. Airforce Village set us up with home health care and they were taken over by Gentiva Home health care. Every one wanted hospice to take over but I did not like some things and held off until I could no longer care for my wife and my daughters were 24/7 for 8 months and we all had to throw up the white flag.. She was going and going fast was down less that 100lbs and hurting from 3 right hip surgeries since 1981 on April fools day. She had no meat on her bones and the screws in the hip from 3 replacements was painful for her and no medicine was helping her. Gentiva Hospices move Hospital bed in and every thing else that she could possibly use. The bed helped her where we would have to move her from one position to another, the bed just crank it up her and there with no pain, Hospices took over 27 March and she passed away on 4 April 2015. The morning of 4 April she was in so much pain all doubled over and nothing was helping her. She could not take water, medicine Then Thomas Kral showed up with new medicine giving her morphine every 2 hours and others but stayed with us for over 2 hours doing what he could for her pain, she had 105 temp put some ice to help cool her down and prepared the family for ammoniate end saying she would not last the night and he cleaned her up and received a call for another delivery out of town and had to go. She passed away 1 hour after he left. \ I an our daughters were setting at the table and the dog Ella was running around trying to jump up onto the Hospital bed and jumped up on the cough to try I got up and put her in bed with Bobbie and put her by her side and put Bobbies arm over the dogs back and she just rubbed her head and 10 minutes later she passed away. My Daughters all promised that she was never going to be alone and we kept that promise at BMAC, Air Force Village and at home. I took the 6-6 night shift and the took the 6-6 day shift and we did every thing for her feed, bathed, and watched over her. Left the medical to the Nurses and Doctors. Want to say thanks to all that cared for her in all her sickness. I miss her so much words cannot describe it. Thanks for the chance to tell of her fight with Alz.
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