The Diary of An Alzheimer's Caregiver
Appreciate the good, laugh at the crazy, and deal with the rest!
Thank you SEIU for sponsoring this post! Most caregivers have a similar experience as me. My moment was walking into my mom’s house and finding piles of pills all over the place. She had gotten her meds out but had forgotten them somewhere along the way. The next epiphany I had was, “I…
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This post was originally written in 2014, but it was updated because it’s so relevant today. Mom hasn’t had a good today either, must be something in the air. She has asked me the same two questions all day. I am trying to interpret them, I am just not coming up with anything. I bought…
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Safety isn’t rocket science, it is basically just plain old common sense, but you only know what you know and I learn new things every single day. It’s one of the joys of living. So is independence and there are small things that you can do in your home today that could save you a…
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I talked to an old high school friend. She had called to tell me about another old friend who gave up the fight & ended his life this past month. We talked about old history and some of the crazy things we’d done. As it always does it turned into talking about all of the…
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I’ve been my mom’s caregiver for a long, long time. Even before she moved in with us every decision I made had to take her well-being into account. It’s always been momma & I since the day I was born. Being the only other girl in a house full of boys meant that we…
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When mom was diagnosed in 2011 with Alzheimer’s Disease I thought then that was the worst thing that could ever happen. I grieved for all that I was losing, I grieved for all of the things that momma would forget and that list grew longer and longer each and every day. As days went by,…
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THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN 2016 BUT WAS UPDATED ON 6/22/2021 I’ve thought long and hard about this question. I wondered if I could put into words what I really think that it feels like to be a caregiver to a loved one with Alzheimer’s Disease. I started thinking about it after momma…
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REMEMBERING THE PAST THROUGH ALZHEIMER’S I am always amazed at the amount of damage that Alzheimer’s causes. How does it decide which memories go and which stay around for a little longer? My mom has a great memory of the past and as the Alzheimer’s progresses I’ve noticed that the stories she tells me are…
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This is a story that my mother recently shared with me. That is my favorite part of being her caregiver, listening to the stories of her youth. Mom had a very hard life deep in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. She had 10 siblings, being spread out a little bit in ages didn’t all live at home…
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I want to tell you a story about my mom long before Alzheimer’s took over her life, even before becoming the wife and terrific mom she would later become. This story left me in awe. You see mom never told us stories about her life. Just the basics of growing up extremely poor, helping to…
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