I hear it often: "Alzheimer's disease is such a horrible way to die."

I don't entirely agree. It is hard to watch a loved one lose their memory- I agree to that. There was a time in my life when I angrily tried to convince my elderly father with late-stages of dementia that he knew me. "I'm your daughter! This is your house!" He only stared at me with wide-eyed confusion. I can only be thankful today that he got over my reaction the instant I turned away. It was hard for me to watch his mind go, but my mother took great care of him. Thinking back more than ten years ago, he didn't suffer and die alone. She was there, feeding him and keeping him warm and clean every day. He died when it was ready for his body to let go.

If I had known then what I know now, I could have managed better to co-exist with him. We all pass on from this world. What matters is that there is someone to take care of you as you go. That could be a spouse, another family member, a friend, or a stranger who cares. It's not Alzheimer's disease that is a horrible way to die. It's loneliness, neglect, and abuse due to the lack of a caring guardian that is a scary way to go, especially as your mind begins to narrow of all things you've once known.

-A Caregiver in Boca Raton, Florida