Your Observations Are the Best Detector of Early Alzheimer’s

A recent study found that family members and close friends are more sensitive to early signs of Alzheimer’s dementia than traditional screening tests, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Researchers at the Knight Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, including first author James Galvin, MD, now at New York University, developed a tool shown to be as...

Does One Make a Difference?

Caregiving can be lonely. It’s often a responsibility you do alone. You’re often a solo act during personal care, during doctor appointments, during your caree’s difficult moments. And, when you’re a one-person act, it can be hard to see an impact. It’s even harder when, despite your best efforts, your caree’s disease process still takes its toll. Even worse: It can feel...

September Smiles

I’ve started and stopped half a dozen updates this month, usually stopping because I had to rush off somewhere or as often as not because I fell asleep. The month is ending well but after weeks of averaging 4-5 hours of sleep and working 10 hour days plus parenting and caregiving, I can’t say that I’m sorry to see September go. Dad turned 89 this month. What do you give a man for his birthday who...

What’s Your Declaration?

This morning on Your Caregiving Journey, Craig Jennings said he made a declaration soon after his wife’s breast cancer diagnosis and after one tough first month of caregiving. His declaration? “I’m going to be the best caregiver possible.” His declaration changed how he felt about caregiving (he wasn’t feeling great about it) and, in turn, changed how he related to his wife. And, that...

Three Months

Three months ago today, Chad & I waited impatiently in a hospital MRI waiting room. We were nervous. We were cautious. We were hoping for answers. Three months ago today, Chad and I sat in a familiar examination room, lit with florescent bulbs and the rubbery smell of medical supplies. We waited for the MRI results, laughing about neurological tests and discussing lunch plans. We were nervous. We were...

When One Door Closes…

It was Alexander Graham Bell who said, “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” Mr. Bell phrased that so eloquently. What I was thinking was that when one door closes sometimes your foot gets smashed in the door and it takes a while for you to get it out so you can look around and find that open...

What Do You Do So You Won’t Worry?

Last week, Sharon shared her plans to take a break from caregiving and enjoy a Saturday night about with friends. In her comment on our Here We Go! Happy Saturday, Sharon wrote: My goal is to not be thinking about caregiving at all or very little tonight. Thursday night I was also able to go away for awhile also, and I enjoyed it. I had caregiving in the back of my mind a lot of the time, however. I want to...

Pit

We may have many pits. We may sometimes say about circumstances and situations: This is the pits. We may sometimes think about our life, as it is right now: This is the pits. We feel a pit in the bottom of our stomach when we feel dread or fear. But, there’s another side to pits. They became a great title to a book (“If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?” by Erma Bombeck)....

A Different Road to Travel

Since my mother came to live with us, I’ve been “stroke focused”.  Her stroke was in 2002 and the results of it seemed to be what was her (and our) challenge.  Working her legs, strengthening her arms and hands, and trying to protect against falls.  Recently, there has been so much more to focus on. As there have been different blogs and discussions about dementia, I have continued to think,...

Small Drama, Big Drama

(Editor’s Note: With this post, we welcome Karen as our newest family caregiver who blogs. Karen cares for her mother and her brother. She’s also the ambassador for our caregiving support online support group. You can read more about Karen, as well as our other bloggers, here.) I was perplexed at a friend’s reaction earlier this week. She lost an inexpensive camera that was old, but she had enough...

My Wild Nights

I admit it, I have a pretty wild nightlife, but not in the way you think. Our son not only talks in his sleeps, he sleepwalks! The good news is that he usually finds me when he’s sleepwalking. The first time he ran, full speed, down our stairs. I thought he was awake, so his strange responses to my questions scared me. I was even more scared when I realized he was asleep! This has gone on for more than...

After Caregiving: The Perspective of a Year

Today on Table Talk, we spoke with Shelley Webb, who cared for her father until his death on September 26, 2009. You can listen to our discussion via the player at the bottom of the post. Shelley spoke about her 4 1/2 years caring for her father and then the difficult last week of his life in the hospital. As a result of her experience, she shared suggestions to help you keep in mind options other than...

Hope

Things definitely are changing with my husband, Wayne. Transfers for my husband to the bathroom, back to the chair etc., are getting more difficult, and I have been finding myself getting increasingly stressed. I find myself dreading and consumed with thinking about the next transfer. I also keep wondering what my next step needs to be. Keep doing it myself? Try to hire more in home help? Pursue nursing home...

Here We Go! Happy Saturday!

It’s Saturday and we do our best to smile at our moments of happiness rather than waving them away. During a difficult time, it can be tempting to say, “These moments of moments aren’t for me.” And, then you wave them away. So, they go away. Happiness exist in your day and exists just for you. On this Saturday, how will you take happiness?

Medicare Sen$e

Yesterday on Your Caregiving Journey, Sheri Samotin joined us to make sense of Medicare. We timed our show to help you as Medicare Open Enrollment, which begins November 15, approaches. You can listen to our show via the player below. Sheri offered great tips during the show, concluding with these as you consider which Medicare plan will work best for your caree: 1. This year will not indicate next year’s...

Ask the Nurse: Should My Mom Get a Feeding Tube?

Yesterday afternoon, on Your Caregiving Journey, Jeannie Keenan of My Health Care Manager, joined us to answer your questions. (You can listen to our show via the player at the bottom of the post.) We had four questions, but spent our time tackling a tough one: I care for my mom, who has advanced dementia. She will periods, some times lasting a few days, where she won’t eat. The doctor has suggested a feeding...

When Cleaning Out a Caree’s Home, Keep Kindness

Yesterday on Your Caregiving Journey, Julie Hall, author of “The Boomer Burden: Dealing with Your Parents’ Lifetime Accumulation of Stuff,” joined us to continue our conversation on cleaning out your caree’s house. (You can listen to the show via the player at the bottom of the post.) Earlier this month, Julie gave us suggestions on how to clean out a house. She left us with this request: Do...

Webinar Follow-Up: Which Wellness Are You?

In yesterday’s free webinar, Turning Take Care Upside Down, we shared a new way to look at wellness (thanks to Positive Psychology). (Did you miss our webinar? No worries! You can enjoy the archive here.) At the  end of the webinar, you choose a wellness you will be for the next week. You also committed to an action you’ll take to live that wellness. What did you choose? And, what action will you take?...

What Would Your Flash Card Read?

I just heard about one of the most interesting products I’ve seen in a long time. Trying to find the right words to tell your partner that you fear the fighting? Well, just grab a flash card from the packet of flash cards you’ve just bought called “Talk to Me Like I’m Someone You Love.” Developed by a psychotherapist, “Talk to Me…”, as its website says, “is a...

Detaching to Observer

This morning on Your Caregiving Journey, Anna Stookey joined us for a discussion on detaching. We asked: In a caregiving situation, can you practice detachment? (You can listen to our listen via the player at the bottom of the post.) Anna defined detachment as it relates to meditation: Detachment, she explained, is the ability to consciously let go. It’s different than “checking out,” in which you...

This Week’s Poll: If You Could Have One Free Service, Which Would It Be?

This week’s poll, sponsored by Caregiving.com and eCareDiary.com, waves the magic wand and asks: If you could have one of these free services, which would you choose? If you could have one of these services for free, which would you choose?survey software Resources Register for tomorrow’s free webinar, Turning Take Care Upside Down. (Can’t attend tomorrow? Still register so you receive the link...

On World Alzheimer’s Day, Words from a Researcher

It’s World Alzheimer’s Day. Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) released latest facts and figures about the disease: The worldwide costs of dementia will exceed 1% of global GDP in 2010, at $604 billion. If dementia care were a country, it would be the world’s 18th largest economy. If it were a company, it would be the world’s largest by annual revenue exceeding Wal-Mart ($414...