There is sadness in the Shannon household this week, as Jim’s father took a turn for the worse and passed away early on Friday morning. For those who don’t know, my father-in-law was diagnosed with lewy body disease several years ago. Similar to alzheimer’s but not the same, rather than affecting one’s memory LBD attacks one’s grasp on reality. Vivid hallucinations (in all five senses) and paranoia are the first symptoms. Someone with this disease will eventually end up with the worst Parkinson’s symptoms. We have been watching my father-in-law morph from the robust, intelligent, and loud man he was into someone who could no longer walk, could barely talk, and thought that everyone he met was a coworker because in his mind, he was still working. It was every bit as upsetting and uncomfortable as it sounds. The man who inhabited my father-in-law’s body at the end was not the man I knew him to be. It is horrible when one loses a parent no matter what the cause, but even Jim would say that it is relief of sorts that his suffering is an end.
Jim and I are in Houston for a funeral service with his mother and siblings. We will be flying back to Wisconsin to pick up the kids and driving to Pittsburgh for a service for the extended family and the burial. If my reviews seem off or if I go on radio silence, I know you will understand.
