I remember when caregiving first fell in on me; it was like I was numb, in shock. And when the numbness started wearing off, I experienced a searing emotional sensation, at which point I’d scramble every-which-way just trying to stop that pain. I knew I had to keep moving forward; I was so afraid if…
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One thing that can definitely be counted on is that things change. Some changes are good like someone graduates from college or they get married or get a promotion at work. Other changes, well, they can be harder to handle. A dementia diagnosis can definitely bring about changes—for both the patient and their caregiver. And…
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When a loved one is diagnosed with dementia, the term hits hard, and there’s a feeling of not knowing how to move forward. At least, that’s the way I felt when both of my grandparents were diagnosed with two different forms of dementia on the same day. Initially, I thought all hope of communication with…
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We all procrastinate in one way or another. Things we know we should do, but don’t. Plans and preparations we should make, but somehow, we just never do. Generally speaking, this perpetual “stall” seems based on our expectation that life is just going to move forward without ever really changing. But expectations aren’t always accurate,…
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You don’t know what you don’t know. But contrary to popular opinion, what you don’t know actually can hurt you. One Saturday a few weeks ago, my husband and I were eating a late lunch at a local restaurant. When seated, the partitions are just high enough to keep you from seeing the people in…
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I recently heard a friend of mine talking about his dad’s nursing home experience. Everything was going well, or so he thought, when out of the blue a staff member called to say his dad had become aggressive. Subsequently, he learned that one of the nursing home’s doctors had made a change to one of…
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Helping people get organized is a really big business. A quick internet search reveals a staggering number of pre-formatted to-do lists, keys of successful project-management, how to go about hiring a professional organizer and quick tips for decluttering. The long-term results of being organized are very appealing to nearly everybody, but caregivers can experience an…
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Summer vacation! Whether it’s just a few days, or if you have a whole week to get out and shake the dust off yourself, you want to make the most of your time away. But when you’re a caregiver, getting away for a few days may just sound like something you “used to do.” Well,…
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Hamlet may have contemplated life and death in his famous phrase, “To be or not to be,” but dementia caregivers often find themselves pondering choices that, at times, seem just as severe: To bring their loved one into their home or to look for someplace else for them to receive care? In my new book,…
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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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