> My mother’s mild dementia began accelerating rapidly a year ago. I’ve been picking up pieces of her life as she drops them. That has grown from a part-time job to a full-time job. In the past month, as she’s developed unrelated serious medical issues, it’s become a way-more-than-full-time job.
I would have kept my mother out of the healthcare system and let her pass at home or in a hospice. You can't save someone from dementia and old age, don't even try, you are just prolonging their pain. Let her drop the pieces of her life and leave them there. Lymphedema treatment? She's 84 years old with dementia, she isn't going to get up a run a marathon, why would you treat this?
I say this having never have dealt with a dying parent, so this may be ignorant on my part. I am sure it is difficult standing by while a loved one fades. I think it would be better to spend a few stress-free, happy months in a hospice than years running around between the confusing, painful, stressful mess that is the healthcare system.