Jerry Knife Status

[Bill DeShivs]

The knives are finished. Not exactly sure when they will ship, but soon.

[natcherly]

Caring for someone with advanced Alzheimers is very challenging. I know from helping my Dad as he tried to cope with my Mom's decent into profound dementia. Living in the same city, I too found myself spending a lot of time organizing everyday chores, arranging for extra care, and most disturbing trying to defuse my Mom's outbursts of rage which stemmed from her frustration. She couldn't understand what was happening to her.

You simply cannot do it all. There are resources available locally. Check into it. It will help make your Dad's and your own life better.

[Viking45]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. David most of the time (day time) my mom seems ok, confused but it's mid afternoon,early evening when she starts showing signs. Anytime from 3pm to 4 or 5 she starts asking my dad where her husband is and other things like where did everyone go and says she needs to get back home. I think the doctor called it something like "sun downing".

She works in the yard every day but what she does is picks up tiny little blades of grass but I encourage my dad to let her do this because in my mind it beats sitting in a rocking chair. There are bald patches all over the back yard where she will just stay in one place and pick it clean.
Sad really considering she was was in the banking biz over 50 years, the last twenty plus of those she was the president of three different banks and the president of the American Business Women's Association here in town and then came home and cooked and cleaned for three men.

There are many times I have had to spend the night because she can get violent and I just calm her by asking her about her childhood and getting her mind off of whatever triggered her. She remembers tiny details of when she was a little girl but doesn't recall what she just ate.

[sammy the blade]

My mom had that too. She was the head nurse at the only hospital in the county for years. She would remember things from her childhood but couldn't remember visitors from the day before. She had breast cancer that spread to her brain, died before the Alzheimer progressed further and she was 60 when she died.

[barshoo]

Hi Dave and Sammy, I am really sorry to hear about your mom's!! Dave, I can empathize with you for what you are enduring! Sammy, I am sorry that you lost your mom too soon and the way it happened!

My mother died last year at the good old age of ninety. She had severe dementia for the last twenty 20 years of her life. She was in a very good care giver home, aptly named "Guardian Angel". She didn't know us (seven) kids during the last ten years of her life. When my guardian sister asked her if she knew she had seven kids, she asked "Why?"

She was confused most of the time, but resigned. The nurses all loved her, even when she became irritated. We were all close to her, because she was our sole parent after losing my dad thirty-nine years ago. She had a number of physical challenges which required skilled nursing.

The last month of her life was miserable, because she had the Shingles. She quit eating for two weeks, which finally did her in (she lost her sight from the shingles on her face). We were all relieved when she passed, because she wouldn't have to suffer anymore. (She had survived colon cancer for forty years, on a positive note.)

I hope that you both find some semblance of peace.

[sammy the blade]

Barb, that's awful! Sometimes living is worse than during. My dad has dementia, he's 88 and he has good days and some not so good but he's still kicking. I would rather pass on than get like that!

[barshoo]

Sammy, I'm with you on that score. I already have Fibromyalgia, COPD, Osteo Arthritis, and Degenerative Disc Disease. (I think it's my lungs that are going to do me in--I get pneumonia every year.) I don't want to deal with dementia on top of everything else!

[barshoo]

You know what's sad about JerrBear? He was never sick a day in his life! He was a tough ole buzzard! I would ask him how he was doing, and he would always reply "Not bad for a broken down old donkey." He passed suddenly with no warning. I'm just glad that he didn't suffer.

My oldest sister is in a skilled nursing facility (age seventy) with an unknown brain disease. She has no use of her hands, arms, and legs and wears a catheter all the time. I would rather pass on than get like that!

[barshoo]

I am glad that our knives are done! I would like to thank Dave and Sammy and Bill DeShivs for working on this project. I'm not in a rush to get my knives. I'm looking forward to receiving two knives that used to belong to Jerry Hightower aka JerrBear!

[Viking45]

Bill and Sam are the real heros here. Sammy made it happen but Bill came through where I failed.
It only took me half a year for a weeks worth of work

[barshoo]

You are WAY too hard on yourself, Dave!! You had the initiative to do this project, and even did research on the engraving prior to taking the knives over. I messaged Bill DeShivs and told him to skip the special engraving that I wanted, and he said that space was going to be a problem. And just mailing those knives out to everyone is going to be a colossal pain in the ass!

[Markco the Mad otter]

Sounds like we have all had quite a time over the past few years.
Viking I sent you a pm.
think you had Red Eye and I backwards, like either of us need any help in that department. I was taking the remainder of the knives, I believe it is for a total of 10, originally asked for 2 to be engraved, "K" & "R" not sure how that worked out.
Once again, thanks to all who put themselves through this.

[Bill DeShivs]

No "K" and "R". Sorry.

[Markco the Mad otter]

Oh....do you or Viking know which knives that I will end up with and if any got engraved?

[whippersnapper]

I think there is some confusion..."K and R" refers to these knives in the picture. "K" is a grey/silver and "R" is yellow. Those were the two knives markco wanted engraved.

00- Viking 45 U
01- Sammy A # 1
02- Tequiza Q #2
03- Furcs J # 3
04- tryker P # 4
05- Markco K and R # 5
06- whippersnapper L #6
07- natcherly X # 7
08- gravknife V # 8
09-
10-
11-
12-
13- redeye 5
14- barshoo D #14
15- barshoo N #15
16-
17-
18-
19-
20-
21-
22-
23-
24-