Sad Day for the Hart Family

No, no one has died. However, my dad... Dick Hart... who has been progressively suffering from senile dementia/Alzhiemer's for several years... has got to the point of needing more care than my mom can give. When we saw Dad at Christmas he didn't recognize me at all, Mom he could acknowlege occasionally that she was his wife and kind of knew where he was. By April when my brother David was there Dad had no rememberance of the house or Mom expect that he knows she was important to him. Mom has realized that she can't care for him at this point.

Last week David was in Long Beach again and he and Mom visited several place that they could put Dad. Today is the day that John(now in Long Beach with Mom) and Mom will put Dad in a nursing facility.

As bad as this is for us, for Mom it will be eventually a relief. She will have a chance to go where ever again and know that Dad is OK. I will be going down to help over Labor Day. David's role in this has been wonderful. In April he helped Mom see that it was time and that her insistance on never putting Dad somewhere and not selling the house was a nice dream, but not practical any longer. On this last trip that David made he sacrificed a lot... They had just sold their house, bought a new one, getting ready to open his gym, and doing all the moving stuff. My sister-in-law Debbie and my nieces Darlee and Cristina were willing to put in some big overtime to let David help Mom. He was able to make sure here finances were in good shape, help her find this place for Dad, help her get an equity loan, met with her and the financial guy, took time to help organize her finance.

Mom is now getting ready to sell the house where she has lived for over 40 years. She is planning on getting a place in Lesiure World in Seal Beach. This is a large well established retirement comminity. She can use all the prayers you can spare as she gets use to not having my dad around and living somewhere else. And of course getting over any guilt she brings upon herself about not being able to continue to care for Dad. She will be able to travel more and actually come see us in Alaska.

I'm really sad to see my dad this way, but he still has the ability to talk to people and enjoys making others feel good... he'll be a ray of sunshine to the other residents.