Grace had the shingles, and not just the shingles, but the
shingles in her forehead and one eye. The doctors said the worse kind of pain.
The difficult part was that because of the Alzheimer’s, she could not remember
why she was in so much pain and she could not remember to keep her hands off
her sores and away from her eyes. It was a terrible time. I had her in the
basement of our home as it was cool and dark down there. I even had to put a
towel over the basement window as she could handle no light at all. This one
night, she became quite delusional and was screaming that there was water all
around the bed. She was “worried for the children”. It was a very long night as
I just laid with her and held her so she would not “fall into the water.”
By early morning, both she and I were totally, physically
and emotionally exhausted. About this time, she needed to use the bathroom and
as I started to get her up, I realized she could not walk. Her legs just would
not hold her up. I knew something else was going on but not sure what and she
became quite adamant that she needed the bathroom. Thus, I mostly drug and
somewhat carried her down the little hallway to the bathroom but I could not
hold her weight and I started to fall. I positioned myself so that she would
fall on top of me and not be hurt. As we both hit the floor, so did her bowels.
An explosion all over me.. We both just kept eye contact with each other as we
did not want to acknowledge what had just happened. Then, with as much clarity
as you or I, Grace said “Well, there goes all sense of dignity”. We laughed and
laughed and then I somehow got her to the bathroom and into the shower. Once
dressed, I called 911 and we got her the help needed.
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