When she first got there the nurses did not think she was a patient, so for a short amount of time she was able to get out of the nursing by herself. But as her dementia grew she was place in the dementia ward. Which it is a locked section in the home for the people that were losing their memory. But this did not kill her spirit she still made attempts to escape.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 55. Even though I was not born at the time, she was still getting over the pain it caused her. She also faced rectal cancer at the age 82; which lasted for a little over a year. While she was battling this it was clear that this would be the last obstacle she would ever have. This last obstacle is similar to Beowulf when he went to fight the dragon, which was his last obstacle before the inevitable happened. Both Dorothy and Beowulf did not know that this would be the end. So this reveals that you never know what's going to come you just have to stay