A Long Day's Journey Into Night

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/01/opinion/dianne-feinstein-caregiver.html

("Behind Dianne Feinstein's Headlines Lies Another, Untold Story")

We cannot know the depth of the issues that are clearly affecting Dianne Feinstein and Mitch McConnell. Though their paths are, in the moment, markedly different, it is certain both are in compromised states of well being. 

I watched my mom "disappear" during her decade long struggle with dementia, and now see friends searching their mind, trying futilely to retrieve some information that has forever escaped their grasp. I have a sense of the difficulty and dread of the ones in closest proximity to the deterioration, trying to protect the dignity and integrity of someone struggling just to hold on.

With each succeeding step my mom took backward, I recall thinking I could accept what had transpired, if only she didn't get worse. Until finally there was virtually nothing left, her physical and mental capabilities lost in the fog that enveloped her.

A life spent in public view, as that of Ms. Feinstein and Mr. McConnell, leaves little space to deal on one's own terms with the daily physical and emotional insults and traumas. For those attempting to manage the welfare of these two, the aides who try to provide cover, who seek to deflect attention and deny the obvious, it is an often treacherous road. 

There is no happy ending here. Just a long day's journey into night.