Caregiving in the Forest

Things I’ve discovered in the last few months that might be worth your time if they sound interesting. WEBSITE: Family Caregiver Alliance (https://www.caregiver.org) Lots and lots of tip sheets, webinars, and videos about every aspect of caregiving, well indexed. Two tip sheets I found incredibly helpful: 1) Ten Real-Life Strategies for Dementia Caregiving (https://www.caregiver.org/ten-real-life-strategies-dementia-caregiving) 2) … More More Resources

May 2019 It’s just about 6 months now since J moved to Avita as a resident. In mid-February she fell in her room, either out of bed or on the way to the bathroom, but since she had gotten back into bed by the time the staff person looked in and J told her that … More Spring 2019

There’ve been lots of disasters in the news – fires, floods, and political upheavals –  all the while we’ve been experiencing our own slowly growing disaster here – but in our case, with about as  good a resolution as can be. J has never been able to see or hear how the dementia affected us, … More The Lifeboat

A few months have passed and the main change has been with the day program. A year and a half ago a new memory-care facility, Avita, opened up nearby, which brought with it a good reputation which has actually grown as they settle into our community. It’s a residential assisted living complex specifically for people … More Summer 2018

April 5, 2018  (Posting this a month after I drafted it…better late than never!))  Spring! Although in northern New England it’s more a matter of light than warmth, for a while. A long while….today it was 27f and windy, so I needed long underwear and full winter jacket/mittens/ hood on my morning walk. But then, … More Spring Update

“Most of us saw this hike as an interlude of wild freedom….But complete freedom, it turned out, is not what a trail offers. Quite the opposite – a trail is a tactful reduction of options.” “…To put it as simply as possible, a path is a way of making sense of the world. There are … More Paths & Long Distance Endeavors

I’ve been thinking about how memory loss affects relationship. Conversation is “thinner”, mainly because J’s memory no longer supplies the data to build the remarks from. Certain subjects, usually long-ago events, are the substance of most conversation that she generates. It is the same for me as it is for visitors – she offers the … More Memory Loss and Relationship

Just to update on the day program dilemma – on Monday we visited the program half an hour’s drive from here. It’s a lovely new facility with 16 or 17 members and 5 or 6 staff and volunteers. We were warmly welcomed, brought into the main room where tables for 4 or 6 people were … More The More Things Change, the More Things Stay the Same