Carol Peters-Tanksley, MD, interviews Brenda Avadian, MA, of TheCaregiversVoice.com. Brenda tells stories of how she finds the JOY and even LAUGHS through the tears while caring for her father Alzheimer’s disease. She offers three important tips.
Finding JOY through the Tears
It was my pleasure to be Carol Peters, MD guest on The Dr. Carol Show and to share stories that bring hope and JOY to caregivers.
We choose to laugh or cry.
Since we have the choice, why not laugh–even through the tears? Who wants to be so serious and depressed when you can laugh at potential tragedies like–
Forgetting to open the garage door before starting the engine then shifting and accelerating.
I did this once and ran right into the garage door. Then I did it again. While my car was being repaired, I borrowed my husband’s car and what do you know? I hit that closed garage door one more time!
We didn’t like that old garage door anyway!
If we don’t laugh, we’ll cry.
Caregiver wife can’t understand why the phone keeps ringing after her husband answers it.
After she wipes off her hands from working in the kitchen, she peeks into the other room and bursts out laughing at the bittersweet sight.
Her husband–living with middle-stage dementia–is holding the coffee cup to his ear while the phone keeps ringing by his side.
Dr. Carol Peters conducted a delightful interview, featuring caregiver stories and three important caregiver tips woven throughout the 35-minute call during the second hour of her two-hour daily show. The most important tip of three is offered at the end of the archived 49-minute segment.
Click on the link to listen to the radio interview of Finding JOY through the Tears – Hope and JOY for Caregivers [no longer available] on The Doctor Carol Show.
If you’re short on time listen to a few minutes of the show from the beginning then forward to about 14 minutes into the show.
Brenda Avadian, M.A., is an award-winning speaker, who became a national spokesperson for family and professional caregivers while caring for her father with dementia. Caring for people with brain-impairment such as Alzheimer’s is a challenge and Brenda found ways to make it FUN.
Dr. Carol Peters is a licensed medical doctor (MD) and an ordained Christian minister holding a Doctor of Ministry degree (DMin) and the host of the DrCarolShow.com.
