So this weekend I spent a lot of time at my grandfather’s convalescent home since my dad is in town and he wants to spend as much time as he can with his parents who are getting super old (they are both 94!).

Anyways, this leg thing (which is still hurting me btw) had me depressed but after spending time around a lot of old people it has me even more depressed! I seriously don’t know what I will do when I get old. It seems like a lot of people there are just waiting for death to take them away. It would be sweet relief. When it comes to a point in your life when you become dependent on others, it just sucks. Take my grandfather’s roommate at the hospital….

All day he yells “NURSE!!” every 5 minutes. When the nurse comes in, he’ll tell her he can’t breath (a lie), he needs to go to the bathroom (something he can do on his own….he has to pee in a portable “urinal”, or the bottom of his feet hurt (a lie or not, it’s something they can’t do anything about apparently). All day long, he complains about these things to the point where the nurses have stopped coming. He just lays there yelling “NURSE” all day and will sometimes ask us if we will go get the nurse for him. (Which we did do the first few times but the nurse was like just ignore him). When the nurse tells him to stop calling for her, he just says you try laying in this bed all day long! The reason he even does this is because he literally has NO visitors and is super lonely. When the nurse comes in, it’s the only little interaction he has with someone. My grandfather does not speak english so he can’t really converse with him. The 3rd roommate is literally a mute. Noone has ever seen him talk and he is usually drugged out anyway. SO SAD! I feel so sorry for both of these men!

I’m really thankful for my wonderful aunts. My Grandfather is a very lucky person. I have 4 aunts that live near my grandfather that come to visit him DAILY. Without fail, one aunt comes in at lunch time and helps feed him, another aunt comes in at dinner time to do the same, my 3rd aunt visits him every saturday at lunch and my 4th aunt takes him home every saturday evening so he can experience a different environment from the hospital. This is EVERY week! Can you imagine giving up your time like my aunts do? I can only hope that one day when I am old I can receive the same attention and care that they give my grandfather. It’s amazing! It’s so sad seeing all of the other people there with no visitors. :(

Despite all of the attention my grandfather gets, his life in the convalescent home is still depressing. Just because he is confined to a bed all day with only a tv for entertainment. He has alzheimer’s so he is unable to do any reading or enjoy much of anything. Today when my father and I came to visit the first thing he said was “When am I going to die? Why can’t I just die already?”. He basically feels like his life is pointless at this point. Man..soooo sad.

Another depressing point is my grandmother. She lives with one of my aunts. My grandfather misses her so much! It’s so sweet. All day long he sings a little line that basically means “where is mother at”. As in where is his wife. She is very old and is confined mostly at home because she gets motion sickness very easily. She can’t stand car rides, it makes her very tired and nauseous so it is hard for her to visit my grandfather much. One time I went to visit her and I told her that grandfather always asks for her, and she started crying. I was like ooops….I just wanted her to know that he misses her! I can tell that she misses him very much as well. It is wonderful to see that their love has stood the test of time.

Anyways, after this weekend I realized how much it sucks when you get so old you aren’t able to do anything but just exist. If you have any grandparents out there, you should go visit them! I think it would seriously brighten their day.