Share your frustrations and your simple triumphs.
Suggest to others some tricks you've discovered to make caregiving a little easier.
Describe the things you do to cope with the stresses of everyday caregiving.
Once a week or so, I'll post an honest description of how I feel as a caregiver -- a negative feeling like frustration or a positive feeling like love. They're all part of my life now.
I'll also tell you what I do to help me make it through the day.
Let's help each other and the millions of people just like you and me who are "caregivers".
There are about six million people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in this country. Many are taken care of at home; perhaps in their own home; perhaps in the home of a daughter or son. Ten million Americans struggle to take care of a relative with Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia according to a series of articles in the June, 2007, issue of USA Today.
ReplyDeleteAre YOU one of us?
Maybe we can help each other -- at the very least encourage each other.
I'm looking forward to a blog that discusses the issues and news of the Alzheimer's care giving community.
ReplyDelete- JR
I have a meeting tomorrow at the national office of the Alzheimer's Assoc. I understand that they have offices all over the US. I'm not sure where you live, but check the phone book. If there is an office near you, you're in luck for help. Call them. Even better, go see them.
ReplyDeleteJS
As a caregiver, I feel it is important to treat the person with respect and dignity- realizing their worth as an individual. Remembering The Golden Rule "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".
ReplyDeleteFor me, that little ray of sunshine which comes through when the person is "awake or alert" is something to be treasured and held tightly.
CR, I wonder when my Alzheimer's patient has those "awake and alert" moments if she realizes how much trouble she is having. That would be another cruel aspect of this terrible disease.
ReplyDeleteDoes anybody know the answer to this?
JS
I don't know the answer to that one, but I do have a questions. What do most adult children, who work full time, do for the care of their Alzheimer's parents (who may live with them)?
ReplyDeleteJRS