Posted in Alzheimer's, PMS, adult day cares, aging, amazon, authors, book club, books, bookstores, boomer, breaking point, care partner, care receiver, career, caregiver, caregiver stress, caregiving, community care, daughters, death, dementia, depression, elder care, elder driving, elder rage, eldercare, elderly, emotional, end of life, events, faith, family, finances, financial, geriatrics, grieving, guilt, healthcare, hospice, inspirational, joy and purpose, kunati, law of attraction, marriage, passions, perfection, perfectionist, prayer, publishers, publishing, relationships, sandwich generation, senior care, speaking, spiritual, spiritual teachers, will to live, women, women's health, tagged boomer, caregivers, forgiveness, menopause, relationships, restless leg syndrome, running away, sandwich generation, stress, trust, women's issues on April 29, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Do you feel like running away?
You may have restless caregiver syndrome.
What’s that, you ask?
I may have made up the term, but I certainly experienced it firsthand.
Have you seen the commercials for restless leg syndrome?
They’re kind of quirky, and I’m not saying that it’s not a serious disorder, but it’s presented [...]
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Posted in Alzheimer's, affection, aging, amazon, artists, biology, book reviews, bookstores, boomer women, brain games, breaking point, care partner, care receiver, caregiver, caregiver stress, caregiving, chaos, daughters, death, dementia, depression, dying, elder care, elder driving, elder rage, eldercare, elderly, emotional, end of life, faith, family, family caregiving, grieving, guilt, healthcare, home passing, hospice, hospital, humor, joy and purpose, kunati, memoir, mothering, parkinson's, passion, psychologists, publishing, relationships, sandwich generation, seniors, spiritual, spiritual teachers, wisdom, women, women's health, tagged caregiving, stress, mothers, daughters, caregiver stress, hospice, personality tests, sanguine, choleric, homecoming, relationships, Briggs Myers, Florence Littauer, psychology on April 28, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Different personalities handle life, death, and caregiving differently.
We all have gifts to offer the world and to offer as a caregiver.
Stop trying to be something you’re not.
Stop trying to be your mother.
There are things you’re good at things you aren’t.
Accept this and let go of the guilt.
By examining your basic personality traits, you can [...]
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Posted in Alzheimer's, aging, amazon, books, boomer, boomer women, care partner, care receiver, caregiver, caregiver stress, daughters, death, dementia, eldercare, elderly, emotional, family caregiving, geriatrics, grieving, guilt, healthcare, home passing, hospice, hospital, inspirational, law of attraction, ministry, neurological disorders, oprah, pallative care, relationships, spiritual, spiritual teachers, the secret, tagged hospice, death and dying, guilt, forgiveness, grieving, healing on April 27, 2008 | 1 Comment »
One of the practices hospice recommends is to ask your loved one’s fforgiveness–and to offer yours.
I’ve been thinking about this all day. The importance, or power of forgiveness and how it might keep us here on earth, lingering. Everything hospice does is to make passing easy, comfortable, and to give a sense of closure to everyone.
And [...]
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Posted in aging, books, care partner, care receiver, caregiver, caregiver stress, daughters, dementia, depression, dying, elder care, eldercare, elderly, emotional, end of life, family, family caregiving, geriatrics, grieving, healthcare, hospice, humor, inspirational, joy and purpose, law of attraction, marriage, memoir, neurological disorders, parents, relationships, sandwich generation, senior care, spiritual, will to live, women, tagged memoir, caregiving, sandwich generation, family, books, mothers, daughters, depression, negativity, eldercare, health, positive thinking on April 23, 2008 | 1 Comment »
“I could go at any time.”
My mother said that line for a good 15 years.
It got old.
I knew she said it for attention, but did she really want negative attention?
Was she afraid of dying or just wanted us to reassure her she wasn’t?
Is your parent or spouse negative all or most of the time and [...]
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Posted in Daddy, aging, books, boomer women, breaking point, care partner, care receiver, caregiver, caregiving, church, daughters, death, dementia, depression, elder care, eldercare, emotional, end of life, faith, family, family caregiving, geriatrics, golden years, grieving, guilt, healthcare, heart disease, kunati, law of attraction, marriage, memoir, mothering, mothers, neurological disorders, neurology, parents, parkinson's, relationships, sandwich generation, senior care, spiritual, spiritual teachers, wisdom, women, women's health, writing on April 22, 2008 | No Comments »
Caregiving and Enjoyment are not two words that are always linked together, and I personally know how very challenging, frustrating and exhausting caregiving can be since I was my mother’s full-time care person (aka daughter) for the last three years of her life.
But there are many great aspects to caregiving.
Did you know that research has [...]
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Posted in Alzheimer's, aging, amazon, books, brain, care partner, care receiver, caregiver, caregiver stress, caregiving, daughters, death, dementia, dying, elder care, emotional, end of life, family caregiving, geriatrics, grieving, guilt, hospice, hospital, inspirational, law of attraction, memoir, neurological disorders, neurology, relationships, sandwich generation, senior care, seniors, will to live, tagged caregiving, Alzheimer's, palliative care, Grief, death and dying, abc.com, boston legal, james spader, william shatner, candice bergen, mercy killing, euthanasia, best friends, david e. kelley, comedy on April 22, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Boston Legal has a new storyline. Denny, played by William Shatner, has Alzheimer’s.
What’s great is that Denny is and always has been a bigger-than-life character who says and does outrageous things, is and was a shameless but rather harmless womanizer, and while he’s irritating and embarrassing, he’s brillant as a lawyer, and endearing.
Sounds like many [...]
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Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Alzheimer's, boomer, cancer, caregiver, caregiving, death and dying, family care, forgiveness, Grief, guilt, hospice, palliative care, sandwich generation, stress on April 18, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Statistics show that people spend about 4.5 years caregiving.
The average person with Alzheimer’s lives 5-8 years. That means there’s some time they might not be receiivng care–the early years before they’ve been diagnosed when they’re able to cover it up, make excuses, or their family members are just too inundated with work and children to [...]
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Posted in Alzheimer's, CNN, USA Today, abc.com, adult day cares, authors, books, boomer, boomer women, brain, cancer, care partner, caregiver, caregiver stress, caregiving, community care, daughters, dementia, elder care, eldercare, family caregiving, geriatrics, global healthcare, kunati, mothers, nbc nightly news, neurological disorders, neurology, parents, parkinson's, preaching, publishing, rehab, relationships, sandwich generation, senior care, seniors, tagged Alzheimer's, microchip, tracking devices, memory disorders, lock down units, elder safety, good morning america, abc.com, Time magazine on April 17, 2008 | 2 Comments »
If someone microchips their dog we think of them as acting loving and responsible.
Is that a good enough reason to put a microchip in a human? Isn’t that too “big brother-ish?”
We also put dogs to sleep, right? So maybe that’s not the best analogy.
As you can see, microchipping a human is controversial.
Why?
Some would argue it’s an [...]
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Posted in Uncategorized on April 16, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Julie Christie got busted for making a Alzheimer’s remark during her Golden Globe nomination speech for best actress in Away from Her.
I wouldn’t call it a joke because while being mildly amusing, it was simply a fact. She was attempting to thank everyone and afriad she’d left someone out said, (paraphrased) “If I’m forgetting anyone, [...]
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Posted in Alzheimer's, aging, amazon, boomer, boomer women, boomers, care partner, care receiver, caregiver, caregiver stress, caregiving, church, community care, daughters, death, dementia, depends, depression, dying, elder care, elder rage, eldercare, elderly, emotional, end of life, faith, family caregiving, geriatrics, grieving, guilt, healthcare, home passing, hospice, hospital, inspirational, kunati, memoir, mothers, neurological disorders, neurology, pallative care, publishing, relationships, sandwich generation, senior care, seniors, spiritual, women's health, tagged caregiver, caregiving, chaplins, death and dying, DNR, faith and prayer, family caregiving, feeding tube, Grief, hospice, Journal writing, palliative care, prayer on April 15, 2008 | No Comments »
After all the caregiving, all the hospital stays, doctor visits, baths, pills, and exhaustion, you have one more hurdle–the dying process itself. One of the toughest decisions you’ll have to make is whether or not to insert a feeding tube.
This occurs when you’re at your lowest. Beyond exhausted. Numb.
You call hospice and more decisions need [...]
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