They Say The Short-Term Memory Is The First To Go

So that explains all the repeated recollections during a conversation, the repeated questions over the course of an evening, the lights and sink left on, and why Grandmother wanted to heat up her pot of soup and then promptly ignored it as it was boiling over.

The nurse came over Friday. When I told her about how Grandmother was breaking down, she told me that that is a normal part of old age. She recounted how her grandfather would be fed, and then a half-hour later he would demand to know why he wasn't fed yet. And the forgetfulness medicine that I wanted her to keep ingesting in an effort to restore her memory has a side effect of irritability and nastiness. Maybe that's why she doesn't want to take it many nights.

So it turns out that what's happening to Grandmother isn't unique at all. In fact, a woman I was watching the USC football game tonight with (and by the way, what a stupid fucking way to lose) recounted how she couldn't understand why she was watching Notre Dame when she wanted to see the USC game last week. USC was playing Notre Dame last week.

After I told her Grandmother was being forgetful too, the woman next to me said: "It's hard, isn't it?"

Yes, it is.

The question now becomes: Should we send Grandmother to the nursing home? More on that as soon as I have the courage to blog about it without breaking down in tears.