Blast from the past.

My Great Grandpa and Great Grandma
(sorry for the picture quality it's old!)

This is my Grannie's mom and daddy.  She always called him daddy. To me - this is Grandpa Bill and Grandma Lee.  Growing up, I don't have many happy memories of my Grandpa Bill.  He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's when I was very little and passed away in 1986 (at 86 years old).  By the time we were older he was very short tempered and had no patience for children.  However, I do remember sitting next to him in his chair and reading through books.  That is a very good memory of mine.  As far as my Great Grandma, she lived to be 100!  Her last few years were rough and spent in a nursing home, but I have some really great memories of spending nights at her house.  I remember each night saying our prayers together with her before going to sleep.  I remember watching All in the Family with her..and she had this radio that somehow could be programed to listen to the local TV stations.  She wore a hearing aide and used this radio to help with watching TV.  We (my brother and I) would always want to use that radio and thought it was the coolest thing ever when we were allowed.  She passed away Valentine's Day 2000.  I always thought how nice.. she was with her husband celebrating Valentine's Day together after all those years apart. 

Grandpa & Grannie

I've spent my entire life living next to my Grandma and Grandpa.  (My great grandparents lived on the street behind us, practically around the corner.)  I've blogged about my Grandpa before...and I'm sure I've mentioned he was really the only constant father figure we ever had around.  He was the best.  He would take us to the pool, he tossed softball with me, he'd be the one that took us Trick Or Treating.  He carpooled us to and from school, bowling, and roller skating.  When I would forget my lunch he would always bring it to school.  I really miss him.   My Grannie has always been just as awesome.  She would be the one that fixed our breakfast, pack our lunches for school and have dinner ready every evening at 4:30pm.  We could always count on her for our Halloween costumes and our warm Jello when we were sick.

Recently... my Grannie is showing signs of memory loss.  I've never noticed it before - at least not as bad as what I've experienced the past week or so.  Today, she told me the same story twice.  She also told my Momma the same story 3 times all within a 3 hour time span.  Each time we would interrupt her and remind her that she had already told us...and yet, she continued on with her story as if she never told us the first time.  The story surrounded an error she claimed the bank made.  When talking with her this morning I told her that just maybe she filled out the deposit slip wrong.  But of course, that could never happen.  I encouraged her to call the bank and let them know of their error.  They informed her, she did fill the slip out wrong and technically there was no error. 

I was torn on what to do.  Do I just let this go?  Do I bring the subject up to her?  What will her reaction be?  She is very stubborn and each time I've said "I know Grandma, you told me that earlier."... she just says "Oh, okay...." then continues on with her story.  Do I call her doctor?  Let him know what the family has started noticing?  My concerns are that she will be cooking and forget that her burner is on!?  I know she rarely uses her stove/oven.. but even just once is too much for an error like that.

I called her doctor and left a message with the front desk.  They all know my Grannie and I hope they took my message seriously.  My hope is that he can somehow hint at the idea of starting on some sort of "preventative" medication that will help her memory.  I should do some research..maybe there are some sort of natural memory boosters?

After thinking long and hard about what I should do.. the decision was very clear.  I did exactly what my Grannie would have done for her mom...all those years ago.