Carole Mulliken provides this month’s review of the book, The Inheritance for The Caregiver’s Voice REVIEW. If you are a caregiver for a person with Alzheimer’s, you know that caregiving can be a 24/7 in-your-face challenge. Sometimes, it lasts for decades. The Inheritance is a swe[...]
Mix Up Your Daily Routine Guest article by Christina Chartrand It happens to the best of us – you drive home from work and don’t even remember making the trip. You leave home and forget if you locked the door. It’s human nature to go on autopilot. You fall into a daily routine and follo[...]
As a caregiver, it’s very easy to forget about taking care of yourself when you are laser-focused on taking care of another person. Frequently, caregivers have too much on their plates. If you’re one of these people, you know that even though you’ve prepared fully, surprises can leave yo[...]
How Busy Caregivers Manage Time Spent Preparing Pureed Meals in a Dysphagia Kitchen Sponsored Article by Diane Wolff At Essential Puree, we discovered a wide range of needs for the variety of caregivers caring for loved ones diagnosed with a swallowing disorder. Responding to our readers’ requ[...]
Facebook – Memory aid for Alzheimer’s? Facebook (FB) has a feature that reminds users of their status update from a year or more, ago. The reminder occurs on the anniversary date of when the user added the post. The user has a choice to share the memory as I’ve done below. Imagine [...]
Family members, including caregivers, often feel mixed emotions after a loved one dies on a holiday. It can be Christmas, New Year’s, Thanksgiving, or even April Fools’ Day. My father died on March 31, eight years after my mother’s passing on April 1. My father called me on April Fools’ Day. I[...]
Gotta love the human spirit that refuses to be beaten! After a misdiagnosis of epilepsy, Australian-based Mick Carmody writes, “I was diagnosed with a common form of dementia in people who are under the age of 65 called – fronto-temporal lobe dementia or FTD.” His wife and daughter were “walking on [...]
Do you feel like the only worker ant in your caregiving colony? Caregiving is both rewarding and overwhelming. Do you find yourself trying to make progress when the winds of life start blowing against you? Sometimes, we go through periods in life where we feel like a bunch of ants coming and going&#[...]
John Roche cared for his mother in his home for the last ten years of her life. He admired all she’d been through – strokes, paralysis, and raising three children, mostly alone. He looked forward to caring for her. What he didn’t expect was the toll it would take on him and his mom[...]
Remember when your parents told you not to play with your food? C’mon, what fun is eating if we can’t play with our food? Sometimes, we gotta be kids again. Somehow, this grown-up kid got away with it! By 2014, Chris Durso had created puns with food of nearly half of the United States, w[...]
When a parent or spouse is diagnosed with dementia, fun and games are far from most people’s minds. Believe it or not, a popular tabletop game can actually slow cognitive decline. It can give those coping with early-stage or mid-stage dementia an opportunity to thrive. That game? Ping pong. Ping pon[...]
The Spiritual Life of a Caregiver Guest article by Dr. Carol Peters-Tanksley One year ago, my caregiving journey ended as I washed my husband’s closed eyes and kissed his lifeless hands. Al would never have wanted to call me his caregiver, but as his illness progressed that’s what I increasingly bec[...]
