Thanks everyone...it's been a tough week. My father, who is in Hospice care, stopped talking
yesterday. He seems to have lost that ability, which I guess was to be expected in his condition, but it means that he is declining more rapidly than we thought. He can still swallow and eat, when he is fed, but cannot do that on his own. He turned 93 in August, and up until this past February he was able to live alone and care for himself with some additional help. Then he took a couple falls and was in and out of the hospital and nursing homes for the next 3 months. When he got home, I moved in with him until October when we got him into assisted living. He has congestive heart failure, multiple myeloma (a blood cancer like leukemia) and Alzheimers, and things progressed to the point where he needed more skilled care than I could provide. My mother also had Alheimer's and I can see the similarities with how she departed and what he is going through. Fortunately my father has a living will so he won't have a feeding tube or any type of extraordinary measures done. Please keep him in your thoughts.
Again, thanks for the kind words about Scarlet. I'm picking out her urn right now. At the vet's on Monday I told them I couldn't make a decision then. For those of you who asked, I lost Melanie in June. She also had CRF and was diagnosed earlier than Scarlet so both got the IV fluids treatment for a year before it was clear that would no longer help. I like to think the two of them are reunited snuggling, and then causing havoc like they did as kittens. Below is the picture of them I'll keep with the urns...it was a "real" paper photo I scanned, so the quality isn't great here, but is actually pretty good in its frame.
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You have my deepest sympathy. Just yesterday I requested hospice for my stepfather, who in in a long term care facility with my mom, both of whom suffer from dementia but dad is failing fast.
I'm so sorry.
Peace to the both of you.
