re: Alzheimer is a cruel disease

my mother died of Alzheimer's in 2013 at 84. because of what i saw, i have given instructions to my family to not treat the disease if/when i get it. Mom was gone long before her body gave up, and she would have killed Dad if my brother and I had not intervened and put her in a nursing home. He was 89, and was her primary caregiver when we placed her in 2012. she lived about 18 months, with no clue who or where she was. he made it 4 more years after her death, only because he only had to care for himself.

we finally withdrew all treatment when mom became unable to swallow. I know that would have been her preference, because she told me that she personally placed a DNR on her own mother's chart (mom was a nurse), and gave instructions to the staff on all three shifts :"Don't hurt my mother, she is dying of congestive heart failure and there's nothing we can do to stop it. Do not call a code." Mamaw died peacefully, with no broken ribs.

Mom also died peacefully, without artificially prolonging the inevitable.