If you would like me to put your question up as a separate post -- send it to me via email and I will.Personally, I could write quite a bit but I don't want to taint the conversation.
Feel free to share the link to this article with friends, family, and other interested parties -- http://www.alzheimersreadingroom.com/2009/05/memory-loss-tapes-comments-and.html
I will say, I believe the first part of the documentary was excellent. It was tastefully done. It was not the horror show that I thought it might be reading the early reviews. If it frightened anyone, so be it.
I found myself chuckling a few times. I found myself shaking my head up and down a few times. Been there, experienced that. But mostly, I found myself breathing harder than usual. I often had tears rolling out of the corners of my eyes. I felt a wide range of emotions. It felt both good and bad to have that kind of reactions.
What I saw was a lot of wonderful people. Really courageous and caring.
And like always, it reminded me -- I am not alone. There are millions of us --we are the ones.
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I wish I could talk to some of these people. Who knows, maybe I will.
I found Josephine's daughter extremely interesting. Alone, so alone.
I found myself thinking, I like that fence idea. I also liked hearing that her friends helped her do it. Wonderful people. Wandering is a much bigger problem than was portrayed in the documentary. I cannot fathom what the terror must be like when someone with Alzheimer's wanders off. Sufferer terror, caregiver terror, family terror.
I believe Josephine's daughter was much too tough on herself -- blaming herself when her mother put a stone in her mouth. I bet a lot of caregivers feel lots of blame. Caregivers, including Josephine's daughter, should put everything in a very broad context. It is clear she is doing a wonderful job and one little incident amongst thousands of trial and tribulations is not enough to blame yourself. We are all far from perfect and caregiving is a very difficult job.
Questions:
- How did you feel about the fence?
- Was Josephine's daughter too hard on herself?
- In your experience what early signs of Alzheimer's other than memory loss can you tell us about?
- What makes Alzheimer's care giving different?
- How do you, your family and friends communicate with someone suffering from Alzheimer's?
 Bob DeMarco is a citizen journalist and Caregiver. In addition to being an experienced writer he taught at the University of Georgia , was an Associate Director and Limited Partner at Bear Stearns, the CEO of IP Group, and a mentor. Bob currently resides in Delray Beach, FL where he cares for his mother, Dorothy, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. Bob has written more than 600 articles with more than 11,000 links to his work on the Internet. His content has been syndicated on Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Sun Times, Fox News, Pluck, Blog Critics, and a growing list of blogs. Bob is actively seeking syndication and writing assignments. |
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