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Afer listening to todays show I would be labeled by some as the "bad guy". 

My mothere died in December.  Before she passed away peacefully I moved her six times.  Being an only child I had to make the tough decisions for a mother who no longer could make decisions for herself.

By the time a person reaches the age of 85, half of us will have some type of dementia and one of the signs of elderly demntia is hoarding.  My mother saved everything; paper sacks crackers from dinner.  If I had not gone through and cleaned out her clutter it would be unsafe for her.  Yes, I would go into her apartment and take out clothing that was no longer wearable and remove it in the guise of taking it home to wash.  My mother didn't remember it once it was out of sight.  I had to remove the bad from the good so she had only the good to choose from.  If my mother was thinking correctly she would never have worn the clothes she wore and would have ben embarressed to do so.

I was lucky in that my mother had enough money to take care of her properly.  MOST don't as the price of assisted and retirement living is high.  But making hard decisiopns for her and having her mad at me for having to make them was not easy.  I don't regret making decisions for my mother when she no longer could and hope some day I will have someone to take over for me.

posted 3 years, 1 month ago
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