My husband and I are headed over to help downsize his grandparents today. His grandpa is headed to a facility, and grandma to a small apartment. The information I receive about his condition is third-hand at best, and I know extremely little about this condition. I’ve been perusing the subreddit and am getting pretty overwhelmed imagining what could be ahead.

I found the ten rules for living with dementia but would love some advice about not only being supportive and putting Grandpa first in the interactions I get to have with him. I would also love some advice about what I can do to both be supportive of my family while also providing any strength and reason and objectivity that I imagine is sometimes hard to provide when you’re closer to the situation.

Grandma recently mixed up some of her medications, which resulted in a trip to the ER. I think this transition is largely proactive in lieu of the scope of complications that are possibly awaiting us in the future, but it’s definitely triggered by this event. Overall there’s a lot of angst about what’s happening to the very nuclear family structure, and a stiff upper lip about the possible heritability of the disease. My husband sees Grandpa as a father figure and so I need to be the strong one for a time now. Any advice is greatly appreciated.