My grandmother was a very special person. I miss her dearly. She was 83 year old when she became ill. She lived alone and was declared legally blind years earlier.She always did so well living alone. well, she started having problems in June of 1999. It started slow. She was having problems with her balance. She was falling alot and was having other problems but, she wasn't one to worry us about her problems.Between my mother and I we kept a close eye on her at all times and took care of her. Well we had asked if she was ok many of times and she would always say yes but, her balance got pretty bad and we were noticing just minor changes in her. well, she had fallen on her way to my Mother's house and a neighbor had helped her. We brushed it off as due to her failing eyesight. Shortly after that she had fallen again and this time my husband said it was enough and that she couldn't stay home alone anymore. So we moved her in with us where we could keep a close watch on her. I phoned her Doctor and after he had seen her only a couple of times he diagnosed her with Alzheimer's. Everyday she was just getting worst. She lived with my family for a short three weeks and in that three weeks she went from walking to a walker and then a wheelchair.I had a nurse coming in to help with her baths and some care. I had to keep a baby monitor in her room because she would get up on her own. It got so bad that we had to make a decision to have her placed into a nursing home where I swore to her I'd never do. Well, after she had been there a few weeks her Doctor had told us that it wasn't Alzheimer's we were dealing with and he had no idea what was wrong with her. She lost all of her functions. She couldn't talk to us anymore, which was one of the hardest. She was in bed most of the time. She couldn't eat and when you would try to feed her she would choke. The Doctor says theirs no sense in running any test on her because its only going to make her more uncomfortable and we had no chance in saving her. We just made her as comfortable as we possible could. She caught pneumonia in October. We had a difficult choice to make. The Doctor says she's dying its only a matter of days. We can help her with her pneumonia or give her medication to help her stay as comfortable as possible until the end. wow, what a choice to have to make on someone who means the world to you. Well, i think we made the right choice and that was to give her morphine until she passed away. We did the best we could for her and we were there everyday for her and i know we did what she would want us to do. it was the hardest thing i have ever had to do was to say good-bye to my Grandmother on October 23rd 1999. We had an autopsy performed on her to find out why she passed away and it came back as: Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease. So little do we know about this disease. Its really sad the way it takes a life so tragic and so fast. As i read other peoples story on this killer disease i don't understand how this disease can have all these different effects on people and how some people can live much longer. I also just wanted to add that my Grandmother was a Jehovah witness so she never received or gave blood and she never traveled. that seems to be the most things I can find that people with this disease have in common. I hope soon they find more out on this disease so we can maybe save our children from this awful disease. I feel for each and every family that has ever been threw this and I hope i never see this disease again. Decaited to my very special grandmother she was everything to me and i miss her with all my heart.

I love you Gram.
Your Grandaughter Cathy
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