>My ex-wife's mom, who is fading to dementia now, was one of eight daughters.

My Dad had Alzheimer's ... he ended up in a nursing home facility when he got bad enough that my Mom couldn't deal with him anymore ... that's the main reason she sold the house. He was there for several years, slowly declining mentally & physically. One of my sisters visited him every week (she lived nearby) & he didn't remember that she was his daughter ... but he *did* recognize that she visited him all the time. Before he got too bad, he was always trying to escape ... it was kinda funny. And he'd alway beg my sister to take him for a ride in her car when she visited. He loved cars ... I remember how upsetting it was to him when he finally had his car keys taken away because he was no longer capable of good enough judgment to drive (this was before he went to live in the nursing home). He died almost 3 years ago, the result of contracting pneumonia, but it was a blessing at that point, because he had deteriorated so much, that his quality of life really sucked.

Depressing thought that it's an inherited disease. I sure hope I don't get it ... I inherited a lot of stuff from my Dad and very little from my Mom.

~~Bonnie