My grandma's Alzheimer's has progressed extremely quickly and she cannot usually make herself intelligible. She has difficulty finding the right words to say and even more difficulty forming sentences. Recently she fell and had a brain bleed and stroke, which she is still recovering from. This so why she was moved to an Alzheimer's home instead of the assisted living home she and my grandpa had been living in together (where he still lives).
So my grandma cannot communicate very clearly, cannot participate in conversations, and we are unsure how much she understands when people talk to her. But through all this, it amazes me what she still remembers.
She remembers all of our family. She remembers her husband of sixty-seven years. She remembers each of her children, including her son, Paul, who died with leukemia. Last week she was saying, "I miss Paul," which breaks my heart a little but is also so incredible. She remembers all of her grandchildren and their spouses and great-grandchildren. She may not always be able to vocalize our names, but she knows who we are when she sees us. The last time we were home she remembered Matt, which was surprising to us since he was a newer member of the family. My dad says she even says, "Jackson" sometimes. Since he was born she'll repeat, "Daniel. Daniel Watson" and I think she is proud that he is named after her husband. She was so excited to see the boys when we facetimed.
She also remembers The Lord. While we were face timing she was singing "The B-i-b-l-e" over and over. Earlier she had been singing "Jesus Loves Me". What an incredible testimony, that while she cannot bring regular sentences to speech she can bring these songs out clearly.
If I ever develop Alzheimer's or another form of dementia, I truly hope I will remember my loved ones and my Jesus. That's all I really need.
I love you, Grandma! I am excited to introduce you to Daniel Watson when we visit.
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