I remember when I was a teenager my mother brought my grandmother to live with us because she didn't want her in an institution. She was one crazy old woman, with moaning that frazzled all our nerves. After two weeks my father came home from work, took one look at the sad scene in our home, and said "there is a crazy person living in this house. If this keeps up, there will soon be two crazy women living in this house." He told my mother to take her mother back to where she could be cared for, and my mother complied. My grandmother and grandfather both lived institutionalized until their deaths, and they didn't know us or were not sane enough for us to visit. My cousin, a nurse, saw that my grandfather was bathed once a week, by force, usually. My point is that we need to learn enough to protect our own mental health while caring for those whose minds can destroy us as well. Dorisena

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