Tag: #caregivers

How Do Doctors Test for Dementia?

How Do Doctors Test for Dementia? We live in a great age of medical breakthroughs. We have rapid tests for a lot of conditions—everything from being pregnant to having COVID. Various tests can be performed right in a doctor’s office with a high degree of accuracy. And then there’s diagnosing dementia, where the wheels of…
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Quiz Time: What Do You Really Know About Dementia?

I’m working on turning the six chapters of my course, Everything I Wish I Had Known: Caring for a Loved One with Alzheimer’s or Other Dementia, into six individual presentations that I will teach in a seminar-type setting It’s truly my objective to help people understand what dementia is—and what it isn’t—as well as encouraging…
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Relax; You’re Normal!

The sheer exhaustion experienced by a dementia caregiver is hard to quantify. There’s physical exhaustion based on the fact that most of your day is spent actively working to provide the care your loved one needs; this includes dispensing meds, helping them in and out of bed and/or chairs, assisting in the bathroom, preparing meals,…
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Free-Fall or Got it All? Your Choice!

“There are a variety of reasons people don’t plan ahead for their estate or personal care needs: some people get busy, assuming they have lots of time left and they’ll get around to it later; others are superstitious, thinking if they start drafting documents to provide for themselves in the event of the unthinkable, then…
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The Critic Critique

I am continually amazed by the number of people who truly believe they can tell a dementia caregiver what they “ought” to be doing—even if they have never had so much as a minute of responsibility in providing that kind of care. I consider the account I heard from a woman (we’ll call her Jane)…
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Illogical Communication: Responding to the Dementia Patient

Grandma’s face would brighten each time I walked into her room. I am so thankful to say that even with advanced Alzheimer’s, she knew me every time she saw me; just two weeks before her death, a nurse asked her who I was and she answered clearly and immediately that I was her granddaughter. That…
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What if You Just Hate the Job?

“I knew of a woman who opened her home to her aged mother when it was determined ‘mother’ could no longer live by herself… both the woman and her husband were utterly miserable because ‘mother’ was so hateful….There were almost daily altercations….Because this woman wouldn’t allow her mother to completely run the house, ‘mother’ went…
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Can a Quality Work Environment Yield Better Care?

I think my grandparents’ nursing home staff must have had my number on speed-dial: “Mr. Meade set off the alarm on the door today–again.” “Mrs. Meade keeps eating food off of Mr. Meade’s tray.” “Mr. Meade pulled Mrs. Meade’s P.E.G. tube out.” “Mr. and Mrs. Meade are asking for a ‘street car’ so they can…
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“Conversation” Talks—But What Does it Say?

“Privy to our deepest thoughts, that kitchen table was a silent listener as Grandma and I had talked late into the night while indulging together in some form of chocolate.” Excerpt from Goodnight, Sweet: A Caregiver’s Long Goodbye, Chapter 7 “Going Home” Grandma and I, we talked. A lot. Sitting at her kitchen table, on…
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The Caregiver Learning Curve

Why do we instantly expect ourselves to know everything when we first begin to provide care for a loved one? We don’t make such assumptions about other endeavors; for instance, doctors, teachers, lawyers, financial planners—as well as many other professionals—receive years of education before they’re even allowed to practice solo. Occupations ranging from pilots to…
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