When Frank's mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, I think each one of the family members had the same reaction at first - grief. However, over time we dealt with her illness in different ways. Frank's sister and brother quickly moved into the denial stage and remained there until their mother's death. Frank himself stayed in the grief phase for quite a while, but then moved on to acceptance. "Acceptance" didn't mean, of course, that he gave up all hope - he still longed to see moments of lucidity in his mother.