R.I.P. BiT's Mother-In-Law
Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2026 2:07 pm
I've mentioned her here before. She began showing signs of dementia in 2015 or so when Mrs. BiT had to take over her finances due to her continually getting scammed. We ended up taking her car from her in early 2016 and she moved in with us that later that year. She lived with us on and off, mostly on, until August of 2018 when we made the decision she needed to be in memory care full time. We moved her from that facility near us in Cypress, TX to the facility near us here when we moved in 2021. She had the most senority at that facility, until Wednesday last week.
She progressively declined over the past 4 years, going from being able to walk, capbable of dressing herself, making decisions on what to do or not to do, to not being able to feed herself. It was a slow regression. During that 4 years there were probably 20 other residents who came in pretty healthy and active only to deteriorate rapidly and pass away in months.
This past weekend I spent most of the time gathering pictures from my wife's siblings and going through the videos I have preparing a remembrance video for her service on Thursday. Watching those videos and looking at the pictures reminded me of who she was prior to her dementia and how the past 4-6 years was not her. I'm glad I did it so my memories of her will be more about the Barbara she was years ago and not the one my wife took care of and visited 4-5 times a week for the past 6 1/2 years.
She turned 90 in March of last year. We had a huge birthday celebration and all 5 of her kids (2 live out of state), 10 of 15 grandkids, and all 7 great-grandkids where there.
About 5 weeks ago she took a big turn downward and hospice let us know it was "any day now". Her two out of state kids came down and were able to say "good-bye" as well as the other two from here in Texas. But she turned around a bit and held on for another 4 weeks. That last week she survided on a cup of watermelon and a cup of water a day. She did go 3 1/2 days without eating or drinking, then picked up for a couple days eating and drinking some. But on Wednesday, around 6:00 AM my wife got the call. She was finally at peace.
She progressively declined over the past 4 years, going from being able to walk, capbable of dressing herself, making decisions on what to do or not to do, to not being able to feed herself. It was a slow regression. During that 4 years there were probably 20 other residents who came in pretty healthy and active only to deteriorate rapidly and pass away in months.
This past weekend I spent most of the time gathering pictures from my wife's siblings and going through the videos I have preparing a remembrance video for her service on Thursday. Watching those videos and looking at the pictures reminded me of who she was prior to her dementia and how the past 4-6 years was not her. I'm glad I did it so my memories of her will be more about the Barbara she was years ago and not the one my wife took care of and visited 4-5 times a week for the past 6 1/2 years.
She turned 90 in March of last year. We had a huge birthday celebration and all 5 of her kids (2 live out of state), 10 of 15 grandkids, and all 7 great-grandkids where there.
About 5 weeks ago she took a big turn downward and hospice let us know it was "any day now". Her two out of state kids came down and were able to say "good-bye" as well as the other two from here in Texas. But she turned around a bit and held on for another 4 weeks. That last week she survided on a cup of watermelon and a cup of water a day. She did go 3 1/2 days without eating or drinking, then picked up for a couple days eating and drinking some. But on Wednesday, around 6:00 AM my wife got the call. She was finally at peace.