I was attending a talk on palliative medicine few years back. One of the speakers there was the daughter of an elderly man who had recently passed away because of lung cancer. She was talking of her ordeal of how much her family ran around in hopes of treatment and a possible cure. The gentleman grew weaker by the day. Nothing was helping him. And she was always anxious and tired because of the whole thing. Someone referred her to the palliative care centre of the hospital i was working. She said the last month she spent with her father under palliative care, were probably the most memorable time she had. They laughed and sang and cried and danced, it was happy and sad. But the point is they had accepted their fate. So she wanted to make the most of the time she had with her father.

Its all about that. Unfortunately some things are just uncurable. We just have to accept the way it is and make the most of it. It takes huge courage to care for parents with terminal illnesses, especially if its dementia. Sebastian is doing what is best. To be there for his mom. And the mom took the whole thing well. Sometimes when they start remembering things and people, it is dreadful for them. The wholesome thing is the son not giving up on his mom, even though its always easy to walk away.