Witnessing Alzheimer's: A Caregivier's View - January 2012 update

It's been a long time since I've posted here. I've been putting most of my blogging energies into my Seattle P.I. blog "Witnessing Alzheimer's: A Caregiver's View" and, then, forgetting, or not having the energy, to post the blog entries here as well. Today I'm catching up. After Abe died I thought I'd stop the P.I. blog; but it's taken on a life of its own, so I continue. Alzheimer's has become a way of life in the modern world and people need as much information as they can get -- to help with understanding the disease and, most important, to develop a support system to help them care for their loved ones.

"Witnessing Alzheimer's: A Caregiver's View," which I began in 2008, a year and a half before Abe's death, is a blog entwined with the grief process. There are occasional reports on research here, and announcements of books and events; but this blog is primarily personal and idiosyncratic. Journal entries, poems, essays and fragments reflect the emotional and spiritual depth of my relationship to my husband, as I continue to experience the Alzheimer's years and his death. The blog functions as a place for me to explore dementia's impact, all the while it reflects my determination to re-discover myself through work, play and relationships, both new and long-term.

What follows here are my last two entries.

Happy New Year,

Esther

Aging in the Digital Age, January 2, 2012 

When Abe retired in 1996, he spoke about getting a Macintosh. That’s what we called Macs in the old days. I reverted to the original term recently when I bought myself a 13” Mac Air. My daughter laughed: “I haven’t heard MACs called that in a long time,” she said. Probably not since 1997 when Steve Jobs developed the MAC OS 8 and certainly not since 1998 when the IMAC came on the market. Nonetheless, I reverted to Macintosh and recalled the day when Abe and I went into the Apple store to begin his search for the just-right-computer. I had been using a PC since 1985 and wasn’t interested in going over to Apple, which didn’t happen until last month; but I was anxious, at the time, to see Abe put one into action. read more... AGING IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Let There Be Light & A Little Less Confusion Here , December 27, 2011

I don’t come from a religious family. My parents were Leftists, and as conflicted as that segment of the Jewish population is, they sent me and my sister to an Orthodox Sunday school – Shaarei Zion, in Lower Park Heights, Baltimore. My brother fared less well (or better); he had to go kicking and screaming to a real Hebrew School three times a week. read more ... LET THERE BE LIGHT