Spent the day with my grandfather

[Ellisisland]

I know he's not my parent but I thought people on this board would understand.
He has dementia and is occasionally lucid enough to understand he has it if that makes sense. They moved into their new house today, my grandmother and him and he was totally confused. I have made him a photo book full of photos throughout his life, from when he was a kid, his wedding to when I was born right up to recently ( I have a DS so he is now a great grandfather ). I was showing him the book and we were talking about the people in the photos when he started to get upset and he said 'it all goes to quickly you know. You close your eyes for a second and your life has passed and now I'm just an old man in a chair'
I didn't know what to say so I told him that I loved him very much and gave him a cuddle and he seemed better when I left but I am now really worried I did the wrong thing by making the book? And what should I have said?

Sorry this is a very rambling post

Sorry to hear this, OP. My mum recently died from dementia so you I can empathise with you.

You did a lovely thing today, not just with the photos but also by spending the day with him.

Could you give him a ring tomorrow when hopefully he will be feeling brighter?

Hope you can have a relaxing evening with friends/family.

You did a really good thing. Expressing e,motions, even difficult ones is Not a bad thing. I suspect many people towards the end of their lives will be thinking the same , only he had a loved one to share it with.

What an amazing thing you did, my eyes are welling up just reading it.

I'm sure he loved it.

Thanks everyone feeling a bit better now I guess I was just worried that by showing the photos I had made him feel bad by showing him what he had lost if that makes sense ? I have never had to deal with anything like this before. My grandmother is also 84 but still the same old battle axe she has always been! So I'm never quite sure if I am doing the right thing or not. Thanks again for the replies.

My grandma was a battle axe too!

Haha glad I am not the only one !

There are other things I should say about my gran: she was French, an awesome cook, she adored me, I adored her.

I look at photos with my Mum. Some days she can remember who some of the people are, sometimes not. I think the photo album is a lovely idea.

The photo book is a fabulous idea.

I might have used it to chat about the evidence it contained that he has actually had a long and happy life- it seems the blink of an eye to him, but he has a wonderful family- even down to a great grandchild. He hasn't lost them but they have grown and are full of memories of him. I sometimes tell my dad it's ok he doesn't remember some things as actually we can remember them for him !