>Fucking heartbreaking for me, but whoever he'd turned into seemed at peace and satisfied with life for almost all of that time.

I've witnessed the flip side of this: a grandparent with a hard life plagued by worry amplified by the confusion of Alzheimer's. Slowly wasting away for a few years. She did love her sons and grandkids playing piano up till the end, though.

It is truly a beastly disease.