I didn't realize Schottenheimer was 77. Wow.
Alzheimer's is a bitch. My grandma had it for like the last 15 years of her life. She was strong as a bull, so her body didn't give up, but her mind was pretty much gone.
She used to love doing jigsaw puzzles at the nursing home. Often, she would put a puzzle together, then take it back apart. Then get pissed off and blame the people working there for taking apart her puzzle.
This will sound morbid, but I am actually a little concerned that this will be the case with my Mom. She's very healthy physically, and quite tough. If her mind goes completely, and her body lingers, it's going to force my Dad to lose every cent except for his house and one car, to pay for her care until she could be covered by government assistance in a nursing home. We tried to convince them to do the paper divorce thing and split assets, but their savings aren't huge anyway so it probably would have been a wash.
It's the very worst disease in so many ways. It steals a person before they are gone, and while it does it, it will financially cripple a family (at least it does in the USA).
My family has known this is coming for quite some time now, so I getting much more at peace about it, but it has been very difficult.
On the upside, this has made me change my entire outlook on retirement. I no longer define "success" or "achievement" in retirement as being able to not work. Instead, I'll be giving God some massive high-fives if I am mentally and physically capable of working when I am 70. That would be a huge WIN in my book!
