My mother died in 2003. She had an 8 month battle with two kinds of cancer on was adena carcinoma of the pancreas and ovarion cancer. My mamaw was there the whole time. From the diagnosis till Mom took her last breath. Ever since my mamaw is so so depressed. She cries over everything. It seems she has forgotten that she has 5 other children. Tonight she was reading me an article about a local woman who is 32 and was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer that had spread to her rectum uterus, kidneys and liver. She kept talkng about it and talking about it and I could hear it in her voice she was crying. It is very sad to read that but I know it was reminding her of Mom. It seems evertime she sees anything that reminds her of her daughter she gets depressed and won't leave the house for days, she'll sleep all day long. She will stay up at night crying. She has my Mom's purse that she was carrying a week before she went in the hospital the last time. It has Mom's wallet and gum that me an her bought while shopping that week. It even has the ciggarette my Mom carried (she would hold it in her mouth she was trying to quit). She will sit and look at pictures of Mom and cry and cry. I have an old white boggin that I wear in the winter when I get wood. And I hate wearing it in front of her because she gets sad because me and my Mom look almost identical and my Mom always wore boggins. And my uncle is the same way he actally told me on the phone last year "I want you to come to Christmas dinner. It would be just like having your Mom here". Thats so weird. But thats another post on how that makes me feel. I'm just worried about my mamaw. She sits all alone in her house. With all these things (she's a horder) and all of Mom's things and cries. Sometimes she don't answer her phone and I go out there because I am afraid she fell or her blood suger got out of whack or something bad has happened. Me and her used to go out while the boys were at school and we would have lunch or go shopping or just hang out. Now she sits in her house she don't go outside. She has the most awful mood swings. She lashes out. Then she just crys. She turns 71 Saturday. She used to want to go out on her birthday now se don't care. She sometimes wears the same clothes for days and sometimes she don't shower. She don't get gross or anything it's just she has no motivation anymore. I don't know if she's depressed because of her age or because of this grief she constantly feels. I don't know how to help her. I just want her to be normal again.