Saturday, November 27, 2010

Caregiver update - They keep calling him

First thing this morning after Thanksgiving (which was very nice - thank you guests), the ACLU calls for Abe to give another donation. If it's not the ACLU, it's NARAL or Planned Parenthood, or the Democratic Party or the Simon Wiesenthal Center or Cornell Alumni, or Doctors Without Borders or a Native American Indian Center or an ambulance service in Israel, or or or. He wrote checks to everybody.

A reader wrote: "Since my dad's death I can't wait to throw away any fund-raising requests or newsletters I get in the mail about Alzheimers." Amen! Read more

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Witnessing Alzheimer's update

Small steps
It's five months since Abe died and little by little I'm finding a new routine. It's not easy, and my steps are small. I think of the nursing-home vigil pretty much every day; and at times it seems my body longs to go back to that scenario, to mingle with patients and staff in the dining room and wander the halls waiting for this social worker or that. I went back a couple of times and will go again this holiday season; but, for the most part, I'm scared of the place. Scared I'll end up there myself. I wonder how many caregivers of Alzheimer's patients come away from the caregiving experience feeling the same. read more