More painful than dying of obesity-related causes? (which is far more likely in this case)

How dare we treat her like that! Oh, except she loves treats... more cake, please!

It really is awful. We've lived with her for 13 years and recently sent her to assisted living because my mother, her primary caretaker, can no longer adequately look after her anymore. A rest home is the last place she wanted to end up. It's been emotionally traumatic for all parties involved. (Except for my mother, who has a life now. We forgive her.)

Based on what little I know of her family, I know there's a genetic predisposition. And then her entire lifestyle basically invited Alzheimer's with open arms and she made no real attempt to change that. I never heard any common fatlogic from her, but I do remember she was angry when she was first diagnosed 8 years ago because her doctor said exercise could help slow the progression of the disease and she flat out refused to do it. Instead, she did the opposite and started religiously watching TV while snacking. The woman has a temper and a will of iron. When we got her a CPAP machine for her deafening snoring, she refused to use it because it made her look "ugly." She avoided eating anything green because it tasted bad. Ironically, though, she loved milk. Probably because it paired perfectly with cookies, cake, and other pastries.

Her life sort of became this weird parody of fat person entitlement. She is obsessed with "treats." Like, for example, we could never leave a container of cookies in plain view because she would eat one when she came into the kitchen, then eat another when she left... Repeat every time she came into the kitchen (which was often), reaching a point where she'd say "Oh, these are going fast! I better get one!" then eat them two at a time. When the container was empty, she'd get upset because--in her mind--she didn't get any. Even though she ate the whole dozen herself in a day. And then my mother would have to scrub horrifying bodily fluids out of the carpet because aging bowels cannot process huge amounts of junk food.

On the plus side, it's scared my parents straight. They've started eating much better, my dad is hitting the gym, and now my sister and I go on "dementia walks."

Wow, sorry for the rant! Fatlogicians make me so sad and angry because I've been staring at the worst case scenario of their future for over a decade and it's not beautiful or fierce. It's a hideous living death. I want to scream from the rooftops that they'll be lucky if they die young of a heart attack or stroke.

/r/fatlogic Thread Parent Link - imgur.com