Mum

We went to see Mum today at the care home. She suffers from Dementia which has got worse since I saw her last. While we were with her, she went through every emotion: happy, sad, angry, confused, her mood changing every couple of minutes. She briefly recognised us but mainly just had a vague idea that she might know some of us.

The staff at the care home are lovely and look after her and the other residents very well but, whichever way you look at it, it's a cruel disease. My dad resisted putting my mother into a home for three years, turning away all the help that we offered and being hospitalised twice as a result of the stress, which affected us all as we tried to pick up the pieces.
Physically, both my mother and father are better off since she went to the home but of course my mum will never recover.

I looked at the other visitors as they came to see their loved ones. All wear the same smile but their eyes show pain, guilt and anger that they can't make things better. Just like me and my siblings.