It all started in January of 1997.
My dad started feeling dizzy and was not sure what was going on. He was and had always been very healthy all his life. He worked at the Post Office and was still employed with them the day he passed. He had been there 35 years and never missed a day of work. NEVER.
The doctors first treated him for ear infection. Well, that didn't work. A few weeks later more problems started. He had trouble walking, then he would get very violent, then we had to call 911 because of his violent rages. They put him in a place for depression. He was there a few days. I went to visit him every day, and he was just getting worse.
So they sent him to the hospital and ran so many tests. Everything was normal. So they called us in and said one last test - an EEG. We said ok. At that time we did not know what they were looking for.
Well, the next day we got there to visit, and the doctor called for a family meeting. That is when he gave us the very bad news that my dad had CJD. So the family talked about putting him in hospice, but me and my brother said no!!! We wanted to bring him home and take care of him.
The day we brought Dad home, he had slipped into a coma, and they told us then it would be two weeks before he passed. Well, I knew I was taking him home to take care of him. They sent us a hospital bed, and a nurse came out everyday for a few hours a day and helped me and my brother. We took shifts and two weeks to the day we brought dad home, he passed.
I had just gotten home to take care of my baby girls, and my brother called my husband and told him to get me down there fast. Thank God I only lived 10 minutes from my dad. They had told me and my brother that this was an awful thing to die from, and we may go through some really bad things before he passes. Well they were telling the truth.
At one point and time my dad got so violent that my brother would try and help him, and he would beat my brother but my dad had no idea he was doing these things. Through the years since my dad has passed I think about it everyday. I still remember him going through some very very bad times.
He did not live long at all after the original onset, which was in early February of 1997 with the earache and sinus infection, which was neither of those but at the time we did not know anything about CJD. What I'm trying to say is prepare yourself well when you are taking care of a loved one with this awful disease. It has haunted me and my brother since the day we lost our Father. My heart goes out to everyone that has to go through this. My dad lived only four months from the onset of his symptoms.
May you RIP DAD. Love you forever and always.