[Mark Howard]

My 84 year old Dad has had Alzheimer's for going on 10 years now. Always been pleasantly confused. Healthy as a horse, no memory. Pretty much stopped talking around Christmas last year. Had to put in him in nursing home in January due to my mom not being able to take care of him any longer. Since then, he's become belligerent, combative, and down right mean. The nursing home calls me daily with the "problem du jour". They have had to sedate him a couple times and now have him on antipsychotic drugs, 3 of them, one being Haldol. Powerful stuff. He doesn't remember any of us kids anymore. Difficult to watch him go downhill like this, painfully slow, eating him away. I'm at a loss as to what to do. I've always been the "fixer" in my family, as my mom and siblings turn to me to handle just about everything. I can't fix this. Just sux.