My mother...

died almost a year ago to the day.  It was cancer, though at the end, once her brain began to go, it resembled mad cow disease in its symptoms.  We never called in a sitter or put her in a home.  Outside of hospice it was just us.  At the last she lost all control of herself.  At first I had to lift her onto the toilet, and I continued to until the end, but she became so incontinent we had to put her in a diaper.  She spoke gibberish mostly for the last couple of weeks, though some of it could be understood.  She would often say "I want my Daddy and my Mommy."  She was always a Daddy's girl.  And sometimes she would look at me and say.  "You're all in the dark.  You're in the dark."  I guess I was.  I guess I am.  I guess I always will be.  She was the greatest woman on earth and I will always miss her.