As I suggested to you, because it was suggested to me, it really helps us focus on the caring when we note at least one positive interaction with the one we love. I dare say, this is true in civilian life also but for us who are caregivers, it’s a monumental help. I had twoContinue reading “Speaking of gratitude”
Tag Archives: #caregiving
The practice of care
Best practices include the care of our darlings but as caregivers we need to look out for ourselves. Care for the caregiver includes respite, a topic dear to me and upon which I have expostulated at length. Self-care can and should be done in the company of others. Spend time with friends. I have lunchContinue reading “The practice of care”
Best practices
One of my goals for this site is to offer guidance where I can. I want to list some ideas and tips that I have found handy on our journey. 1. Burt had some trouble vis a vis food early on. It worried me. I was feeding him lots of lemon meeingue pie and eggsContinue reading “Best practices”
Short bursts of energy
There’s a support group that «puts the I in caregiver« which I value for its honesty. It’s akin to the one urging us «to be selfish.« I take about 5 hours for myself each day. It’s a necessary indulgence. Let me try to explain what my time away does to benefit me. When I getContinue reading “Short bursts of energy”
It’s heavy
In my encounters with friends and acquaintances, I feel heavy. Physically, of course, I am. It is the sorrow I carry in my heart that makes me feel weightier. This, I think, at each conversation is not the gravitas I hoped to achieve. I have toned down the impulse to spill it all. I noContinue reading “It’s heavy”
Love is lovelier
Oh dear. The second time around. 🎼 For me, the second time is really the years after diagnosis and the symptoms. I am the second wife, but Burt is my first. And only. I know, I am laying it on with extra schmaltz. There is something to what I heard from a recently widowed LBDContinue reading “Love is lovelier”
To care and protect
My mission since Burt’s diagnosis [the big scary dx] more than 4 years ago has been to protect him. Of course. That’s it. I have pinpointed my malaise. I can’t fix this as one of the prompts in my grief writing support group put it. That phrase sums up my frustration in the most succinctContinue reading “To care and protect”
Collateral damage
Burt is in the line of fire as Lewy takes more and more of his self. I feel for his losses as I do for my own. He spoke of himself in the third person today. “Does Burt know?,” he asked. I don’t understand so much of what he utters these days, but I heardContinue reading “Collateral damage”
Expert advice
I am no expert on this disease. I play one around my house, as it were. I am as flummoxed by new behaviors as the next hapless caregiver. We have been thrown under this bus. Each of us. The onset of dementia in your partner can lead to confusion. His and mine. Burt and IContinue reading “Expert advice”
Moment to moment
Burt’s fever broke overnight, almost as suddenly as it started. He was immediately a bit less disoriented. He was able to speak more clearly. We were just chatting, and he mentioned his ex-wife‘s name. I was prepared for this. I was prepared for it to hurt when I asked who she was. He did say,Continue reading “Moment to moment”
this is our life 