The last part about grieving through loss while the person is still alive is very apt. When my mom passed after brain cancer took her memories, she survived for so long with no idea who or where she was that her body dying was a relief and the grieving had mostly occurred a year before.

Well, I’ll never finish grieving that loss I guess. I realize all the time that there’s more to grieve. But the shock was certainly not there. The sense of loss wasn’t. That was difficult in itself; to tell people she passed away and not be as sad as people expected. I felt like something must be wrong with me at the time. In retrospect, she had just died much sooner than her body did.

It’s an especially strange human experience I think.