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sleeping baby while I was at the convenience store and my husband took a few minutes to go outside with the dog. She also started to have problems with itchy dry skin. The biggest problem that she would scratch so hard she would bleed.

She would then remove the bandages and scratch again, making the wound larger and bleeding profusely. Her vocabulary was getting very limited. It was either including a few Ukrainian words or basic English words. She was now walking with a lot of difficulty, limiting her walking to the necessary things such as going to the table for a meal or occasionally sitting in the living room with us. She was also rocking and chanting continuously. Occasionally, about five times during the year, she would have these moments of lucidity that would give you hope and would warm up your heart. Unfortunately, there were not enough of them.

Two days before Christmas, the howling began. It was loud and continuous for two days unless she was sleeping for an hour or two at a time. My husband and I were exhausted. Fortunately, the baby was sleeping no matter what. When the fever showed up, I took her to the ER. They kept her for 10 days, treating her for a urinary tract infection. I always found it odd that no further testing, not even a blood sample was done during her stay.

Three months later, I decided to go against her doctor and went to the ER again, following a week long of high fevers. She spent three and a half weeks into the hospital. They found out three weeks into her stay that she had cancer. At that time, she was no longer talking, eating or even breathing easily on her own. I was pregnant at the time. My husband told her that I was pregnant with our daughter. She had a smile which was the last glimpse of lucidity before she passed away, three days later.

At least, until she was to sick to stay within the comforting walls of her own home, she was able to live in it, surrounded by her loving family. Living with Alzheimers was not easy for everyone involved, her at first than for her loved ones. She was unable to enjoy her grandson and never even met her granddaughter but at least, she had the best possible life until the end, a life that did not end alone in a nursing home.

Learn more about this author, Sylvie Leochko.
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