Matt Brown: A Year of Short Stories

Thirteen: Losing Matt

You are cleaning the few dishes that you have messed up in order to feed Matt his breakfast. You have to make sure he eats some of his meals, because he forgets to eat and you also have to watch him take his medicine, because he will hide it either in his pants pocket or in the nightstand drawer. Matt is no longer the same Matt that you fell in love with all those years ago. Matt has dementia, but you still love him. Once he was diagnosed with dementia, the doctor told you that you needed to move him into town because it wouldn't be safe for him to live in the bush. So you and your two grown children moved you and Matt into town. Matt didn't like it at first, because he felt like he was losing all of his freedom. But as time went by, you where glad that you had move him into town, because a couple of time he tried leaving the house during the times he would be confused about where he was at. It hurts you and your family to see him like this, because when he becomes confused he gets upset and starts to cry and scream. But there are good days when he remembers who he is and he smiles and laughs about something. In the end you love him unconditionally. 

I felt like that I needed to write this. This is happen to me personally. My grandpa has dementia. Basically I used what I am seeing through mine and my grabdma's eyes of the situation.