Just last year, my step grandmother died.  While she was a cranky old woman who clearly felt threatened by my grandfather’s children and grandchildren — she had only been married to him since the early 1990s — she also more or less took care of him, doing things like tying his shoes and helping him remember things.

After she died, obviously we decided my grandfather needed full time care of some sort.  When he fell a couple of years ago and had to go to the hospital, the abrupt change in surroundings triggered some major problems with dementia, so my mom and her siblings decided that home care would be best.  Money is typically not a big concern for my grandfather, so they were able to look for the best care — people with home care provider training, for example, and specifically someone who had access to caregiver resources such as Alzheimer’s training DVDs.

Unfortunately, the trouble with the stock market lately has made my mom and her siblings a little more concerned about the cost of providing this twenty-four/seven care.  My grandfather had a lot of his funds in Citigroup stocks, which of course is really struggling now.  Hopefully the stock market will recover before we lose the ability to provide him with the level of care he needs!

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