Dementia caregivers must prepare themselves for loss. Unlike caregiving in other circumstances like injury or illness with expectations of a full recovery, dementia rarely has a good outcome. The end should represent a new beginning for caregivers…
When a spouse passes, as mine did after a long illness with Alzheimer’s disease, the time comes to go through their personal things. Making decisions about what to do with them is often difficult which makes it easy to put off as long as possible. Such was the case with me…
For peace of mind, caregivers should make arrangements in advance for unforeseen emergencies. For example, health, family or business issues could require you to be away. Unless someone trustworthy can temporarily step in, your person will need…
Author, Elizabeth Byler Younts, inspired me to write about this topic after reading her book, Seasons. It honors the memories of her grandmother’s remarkable life as captured in interviews. She describes…
My wife, Linda, 78, passed peacefully in 2019 after an 11-year journey with Alzheimer’s disease had repurposed our lives. She was adopted at birth so our first clue of potential dementia risk surfaced following a successful search for her birth family in her mid-forties. That search revealed…
Love isn’t always planned but one of those joyous, unexplainable things that some are lucky enough to experience.
Reality today brings those chickens home to roost when her brain is like a camera without film.
Every day, she asks what day and what time is it, several times each morning.