My parents | soggemoen's Blog

I visited my mother earlier.  She is only 79 and has been confined to a nursing home for the last 10 years.  She has dementia or some form of Alzheimer's.  She was institutionalized a couple years ago and was in severe mental anguish until the doctors got the right combination of medication figured out. Now see seems do be doing better, still confused and forgetful but we can still carry on a conversation with her. My dad died in 1996 at the age of 81.  He had brain cancer but the official cause of death was pneumonia. 

My parents had a satisfying but rather poor life.  Dad retired from the railroad and my mother was a home maker. They both spent their life in the same county and didn't do any extensive traveling other than short localized trips or vacations.  Dad was content staying home tending to his garden or fixing things.  Mom was just happy that dad was satisfied