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Archive for the ‘Alzheimer's’ Category

Do You Have Only Days, Weeks, or Months Left with Your Loved One?

Posted in Alzheimer's, aging, authors, books, boomer, boomer women, boomers, brain, care partner, care receiver, caregiver, caregiver stress, caregiving, community care, daughters, death, dementia, depression, elder care, eldercare, elderly, emotional, end of life, faith, family, family caregiving, fight or flight, florida, geriatrics, grieving, healthcare, home passing, hospice, inspirational, kunati, memoir, mid-life crisis, mothers, neurological disorders, pallative care, parents, parkinson's, relationships, sandwich generation, senior care, spiritual, will to live, women's health, tagged , , on July 16, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Those last few hours, days, weeks, or months are a mix or panic, sorrow, numbness, and tenderness.
It usually comes after an accident, diagnosis, or surgery–or sometimes, for our elderly, it follows a slow, painful descent.
However you got here, my heart goes out to you.
“I Don’t Know What I Should be Doing Right Now.”
This is [...]

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Caregiving the Second Time Around: Do You Realize You Will Most Likely Care Give More Than Once?

Posted in Alzheimer's, aging, amazon, authors, book club, bookstores, boomer, boomer women, breaking point, care partner, care receiver, caregiver, caregiver stress, caregiving, daughters, death, dementia, depression, dying, elder care, eldercare, elderly, emotional, end of life, family, family caregiving, geriatrics, grieving, guilt, healthcare, hospice, inspirational, memoir, mid-life crisis, pallative care, relationships, sandwich generation, senior care, spiritual teachers, will to live, women's health on July 14, 2008 | No Comments »

Do You Realize You Will Most Likely Care Give More Than Once?
I compare caregiving the first time around to being chased by a hungry/angry bear as you’re running a marathon. Sure, you’ve got to pace yourself, but you also better run like hell.
You don’t usually have the time or foresight to plan your caregiving [...]

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Are You Sick of People Telling You to Take Care of Yourself?

Posted in Alzheimer's, authors, books, boomer, boomer women, breaking point, care partner, care receiver, caregiver, caregiver stress, caregiving, daughters, death, dementia, depression, dying, elder care, eldercare, elderly, emotional, end of life, faith, family, family caregiving, grieving, guilt, healthcare, heart disease, hospice, inspirational, memoir, mothering, neurology, pallative care, parenting, parents, relationships, sandwich generation, senior care, spiritual, women's health, tagged , , , , , , , on July 11, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Most caregivers I know are rsick of being told to take care of themselves.
It’s not that they don’t appreciate the advice, but I’m sure they feel like saying something along the lines of…
If you’d like to come over and give me a long weekend off, I’d be glad to take care of myself.
Or
And, how [...]

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Do You Have a Sanctuary?

Posted in Alzheimer's, Blogroll, Daddy, aging, amazon, authors, book club, books, bookstores, boomer, boomer women, boomers, breaking point, care partner, care receiver, caregiver, caregiver stress, caregiving, cats, chaos, dads, daughters, death, dementia, depression, elder care, elder driving, elderly, emotional, end of life, faith, geriatrics, grieving, guilt, healthcare, home passing, hospice, inspirational, joy and purpose, kunati, law of attraction, marketing, marriage, memoir, menopause, mothering, mothers, neurology, oprah, pallative care, psychologists, relationships, sandwich generation, senior care, seniors, spiritual, spiritual teachers, therapists, will to live, wisdom, women, tagged , , , , , on July 8, 2008 | 3 Comments »

Caregivers,
Do you have a place to go?
A sanctuary?
If not, it may be a big part as to why you’re stressed and resentful.
Caregiving invades your space, your head, your time–you don’t always get to say when you’re needed.
I pulled many a “late night shift” with my mom.
My mother had Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and not only did [...]

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Are You Afraid You Might Have to “Pull the Plug?”

Posted in Alzheimer's, aging, amazon, authors, book club, book reviews, boomer women, boomers, care partner, care receiver, caregiver, caregiver stress, daughters, death, dementia, depression, elder care, eldercare, elderly, emotional, end of life, family, family caregiving, geriatrics, grieving, guilt, healthcare, heart disease, home passing, hospice, inspirational, memoir, mothering, mothers, pallative care, parents, parkinson's, relationships, sandwich generation, senior care, seniors, will to live, wisdom, women's health on July 1, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Making end-of-life decisions for a loved one is a very scary thing.
Yet families are the ones that most often decide.
This is a part of caregiving we didn’t think about–or think all the way through.
No one wants to feel responsible for deciding if another person lives–or doesn’t live.
But you may find yourself in this very situation.
What [...]

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Are Out of Town Relatives Telling YOU How to Care Give?

Posted in Alzheimer's, Daddy, affection, aging, authors, book reviews, books, bookstores, boomer women, breaking point, care partner, care receiver, caregiver, caregiver stress, caregiving, dads, dark humor, death, dementia, depression, doctors, dying, elder care, eldercare, elderly, emotional, end of life, faith, family, family caregiving, gainesville, geriatrics, guilt, healthcare, home passing, hospice, humor, inspirational, law of attraction, memoir, mothering, mothers, neurological disorders, neurology, pallative care, parents, parkinson's, prayer, publishing, relationships, sandwich generation, senior care, sibling rivalry, spiritual, spiritual teachers, will to live, women's health, tagged , , , , on June 26, 2008 | 2 Comments »

I spoke at Haven Hospice in Gainesville, Florida yesterday–and the speaker before me was Dr. Slayton who is also a caregiver to his 87 year old father. He spoke of the “Out of Town Hero Syndrome.”
Everyone knew what that was–it’s when out of town relatives swoop in town and begin to tell YOU how to care [...]

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Ever Heard of the Death Clock?

Posted in Alzheimer's, books, boomer women, care partner, care receiver, caregiver stress, caregiving, charity, classes, cooking, dark humor, daughters, death, dementia, dying, elder care, elderly, emotional, end of life, faith, family, family caregiving, gardening, golden years, grieving, healthcare, home passing, hospice, humor, inspirational, intimacy, law of attraction, marketing, memoir, mother-in-laws, mothering, parenting, passion, presentations, psychologists, publishing, sandwich generation, senior care, seniors, speaking, spiritual, spiritual teachers, therapists, van gogh, will to live, wisdom, women, women's health, tagged , , , , on June 25, 2008 | 6 Comments »

If you’ve never heard of the death clock, it’s a website that calculates (with a little information you add in) the day you will die.
Sounds morbid, right?
I agree, but take this as a bit of fun and not too serious. Playing with death–trying it on for size is one way humans deal with the tragedies [...]

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How Should You Celebrate the Anniversary of a Loved One’s Passing?

Posted in Alzheimer's, affection, aging, authors, books, boomer women, cancer, care partner, care receiver, caregiver, caregiver stress, caregiving, church, daughters, death, dementia, depression, elder care, eldercare, elderly, emotional, end of life, family, family caregiving, geriatrics, grieving, guilt, healthcare, heart disease, home passing, hospice, humor, inspirational, kunati, law of attraction, memoir, mothering, mothers, pallative care, parenting, relationships, sandwich generation, senior care, spiritual, spiritual teachers, trauma, wisdom, women's health, tagged , , , , , on June 23, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Anniversaries that mark the day our loved one’s passed away can be tough days.
You think about it weeks leading up to it–dread the day.
Your body seems to remember even before your mind.
Athletes call this muscle memory–
“Muscle memory can best be described as a type of movement with which the muscles become familiar over time. For [...]

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Is Your Elder Loved One (or Spouse) Considering Suicide? Know the Warning Signs

Posted in Alzheimer's, aging, authors, books, bookstores, boomer, boomer women, breaking point, care partner, care receiver, caregiver, caregiver stress, caregiving, community care, daughters, death, dementia, depression, dying, elder care, eldercare, elderly, emotional, end of life, faith, family, family caregiving, geriatrics, grieving, guilt, healthcare, heart disease, home passing, library, memoir, neurological disorders, pallative care, parenting, parents, parkinson's, psychologists, relationships, sandwich generation, senior care, seniors, trauma, will to live, women's health, writing, tagged , , on June 17, 2008 | 2 Comments »

Don’t think it can’t happen.
 
Elder suicide rates are up in the United States and it usually start with depression–also a major factor in the elderly.
 
It’s a deadly combination–life debilitating illness, loss of spouse, career, a terminal diagnosis, medications all exasperate the situation.
 
But it’s not the way we want it to end.
It’s not the [...]

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What I Learned About Caregiving From my Dogs

Posted in Alzheimer's, aging, authors, book reviews, books, boomer women, boomers, breaking point, care partner, care receiver, caregiver, caregiver stress, caregiving, daughters, death, dementia, depression, dogs, dying, elder care, eldercare, elderly, emotional, end of life, events, faith, family, family caregiving, geriatrics, grieving, guilt, healthcare, home passing, hospice, inspirational, law of attraction, memoir, mothering, mothers, neurological disorders, pallative care, parenting, parkinson's, perfectionist, pets, relationships, sandwich generation, senior care, spiritual, spiritual teachers, will to live, wisdom, tagged , , , , , on June 17, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Life lessons are everywhere, and I was recently reminded of what it’s like to be a caregiver by my two dogs–Kismet and Rupert. Kizzy (short for Kismet) is an Alaskan Malamute and her son, Rupert who is part lab. (She had a tryst in the front yard before we could stop her). Miracle was, she only had [...]

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