I Love My Grandpa!

A few weeks ago I spent some time in Montana for a family wedding (more on this to come).  My sister and I and our respective men had the glorious opportunity to spend some time loving and caring for our Grandpa and I just want to share a little about that.

My grandfather has Alzheimer's Disease.  We all tried to deny it for awhile, but it pretty much stares you right in the face now.  We all vacillate between thinking he's worse than he really is, or thinking he's better than he really is, but if you spend a few days with him, you get a pretty clear picture of how far the disease has progressed.  It's primarily visible in two ways:

1.  He is easily confused.  He kept lamenting the fact that there were too many beautiful blond girls around and he couldn't keep us all straight.  I can see how this would be an issue, as only one of my female cousins is a brunette.  We also had to clear up a few times each day the difference between Erik and Sterling and which one went with me and which one went with Amy.  Fair enough.  He hasn't spent enough time with either of them to really be able to tell the difference.  They're both tall, handsome, and a significant other of one of his granddaughters.  That's all he needs to know, right?

2.  He has trouble coming up with words.  A story that should take him 5 minutes to tell takes him 20.  If you can be a little bit of a mind-reader and feed him the words that he can't think of, it helps.  But it's tough.  He gets frustrated easily.  It's hard to see someone you love this way.

Two of my favorite guys.  :)

 

My grandpa is a good, old-fashioned tough guy.  He left school early and lied about his age to try to join the Merchant Marines.  He used to hitchhike between Grand Junction, CO, and Great Falls, MT, all the time.  For the majority of his adult life, he was a cop.  (He retired the month I was born.)  He was a prominent man in the community--everyone knew Harold Hasenkrug.  He's used to hopping in the car and driving my grandma all over the country to visit their kids and grandkids.  He's also a carpenter.  He makes clocks and chimes and whirligigs and any number of other things.  He takes care of my grandma when she has her surgeries (which numbers more than I can count!).

Problems with arthritis have brought his carpentry days to an end.  Alzheimer's has robbed him of his ability to drive, his ability to remember faces, words, and facts, and truly of his ability to care for himself or anyone else.  My grandma has to be his caretaker now.  

But Grandpa is still a tough cookie.  He persists in telling his stories, even if they take five times as long as they should to tell.  Last fall he took all the cash he had on hand (about $80) and walked down to a nearby florist's shop to make arrangements to have a plant or a bouquet of flowers sent to my grandmother every month, indefinitely (thank God that florist was understanding and willing to help him out).  Despite his inability to communicate very effectively, he has amazing conversations with people!  And he always lets us know he loves us.

Keeping Grandpa safe down the crazy steep stairs.  Good work, gentlemen.

At this point I'd like to say GOD BLESS ERIK AND STERLING.  Between the two of them, I would guess they spent AT LEAST 8 solid hours sitting one-on-one (or sometimes both of them with Grandpa) with my grandfather talking with him and listening to his stories.  What an amazing gift that was to him and to my sister and me.  These are two amazing, extremely patient men.  

On the day of Tyler's wedding, we had some time to kill and decided to take a little trip to show Erik and Sterling the place where my grandparents used to own an amusement park at a state park.  At the last minute, Erik suggested we invite Grandpa along, and I was SO glad we did.  It was an awesome day.  Grandpa was THRILLED to get out of the house (remember, he can't drive anymore), and also very excited to be with his grandkids and show them around his town.  He told us all kinds of stories, insisted on showing us things, paid for us to feed the fish, and insisted on taking us to 3 different places.  It was really, really special.  On the way home to get ready for the wedding, Amy and I decided we needed to stop at Dairy Queen for dipped cones (a sister tradition!).  We asked Grandpa if he'd like an ice cream cone, and he said, "Well.......ummmmm..........let's see...........YES!!!!!!!!"  He was soooooo funny.  Talk about a kid in a candy store.  We were in a hurry and had to race back to the house, but according to my dad, you should have SEEN the grin plastered across his face when we walked in the house!  Magical.

When Grandpa has Alzheimer's, you gotta stay close.  I love this photo of the two of us walking through Giant Springs.  I'm soooo glad Erik had my camera!

So, here's a shout-out to grandparents, and a reminder that if yours are still around, treasure the time you have with them.  You never know how long they'll be around.  Or how long they'll remember you.

Love you, Grandpa!