Dying from dementia -- on her own terms

At the time of diagnosis, doctors can explain what the end is likely to be like. They can project how long someone with, say, Lewy body dementia has to live. And, if pressed, they can describe the process of death.

I remember asking my Dad's neurologist what would actually kill him. The doctor said many people with frontotemporal lobe dementia lose the ability to chew, and they choke. Or they fall, break bones, become bedbound and wither away with urinary tract infections that blossom out of control. It all sounded awful to me at the time, and it still does. My strong-willed, physically healthy father to be taken down by a swallow, or a trip...?

So I liked reading about Lynn Forbish, who is described as living and dying on her own terms in a story that Beth Macy wrote on Roanoke.com.

She explains that Forbish was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia in 2006. She died April 14, in a memory care facility.

"She'd started refusing food last week, clamping her teeth tight and turning her head; pretending to fall asleep. Her final hours were pain-free, with hospice workers and her favorite cousin by her side," Macy writes. Forbish's daughter-in-law told Roanoke.com that "She was done. As headstrong as she was, by God, she was going to go on her own terms."

The profile of Lynn Forbish, and how dementia took away her edge.