Most people caring for a relative with Alzheimer’s or dementia from home are barely able to afford necessities. Paying someone to come in for a few hours so you can take a trip to the gym or just wander through the mall is just not something you’re able to do. However, what if it didn’t cost you anything to take a few hours to recharge once a week?
Find a caregiver partner that you can swap duties with. Perhaps your neighbor is a mom who isn’t handy. She can spend a few hours in your home with your loved one while her kids are at school. In exchange, you repair her plumbing leak and then head for the golf course for an hour of well deserved relaxation.
Does anyone else have creative ways to get a bit of you time?
I’ve been giving a great deal of thought to having a way to remember Alzheimer’s victims, especially since this is the 100th year since the disease was discovered. I was thinking about a quilt, with a block contributed for each person who died from the disease.
However, besides the fact that not everyone can sew, memory loss is such a big part of Alzheimer’s. I kept coming back to the idea of a Memory Album - a page for each person. I’ll have to figure out a way to display the album online.
Perhaps using a photo hosting service like Flickr? Another way to display the pages would be to set up a specific category for them and post them to the site, but that would involve a lot of file handling and the potential for viruses, so I think a photo hosting service would still work best to handle the actual photos or scans of the pages.
If anyone is interested in joining me on this project, please comment below and let me know. I’ll be looking around for the best way to display the album and when I find a solution, I’ll post an update.
According to
USA Today, a new study suggests that drinking coffee can benefit people who are at risk for Alzheimer’s disease:
“Caffeine is the most widely used psychoactive drug in the world,” says Arendash, a researcher at the Byrd Alzheimer Institute in Tampa. “We think it might protect against Alzheimer’s.”
Keep in mind that the study hasn’t tested the use of caffeine on people with Alzheimer’s traits, just mice. However, people with Parkinson’s have been tested and caffeine does help them, so the researchers are pretty excited. Starbucks, anyone?
From U.S. Newswire:
“This is an auspicious time for accelerating Alzheimer’s disease research, in this 100th year since the recognition of the disease by Dr. Alois Alzheimer on Nov. 6, 1906,” Dr. Tanzi said. “We see the light, we know several things. We know what we need to know… we just need the money to get the tools to stop this disease.”
Dr. Tanzi also talks about the dramatic difference being able to delay onset of the disease by just 5 years can make. He says the cumulative effect of a 5 year delay would mean up to 50% fewer cases in 50 years. He also says that soon people will be testing themselves for the disease instead of waiting and wondering if they will have it.
The Cure Alzheimer’s Fund is working to find a way to slow, stop, or reverse Alzheimer’s disease by 2016, just a decade from now.
We are asking family and friends to donate to Alzheimer’s Research or to the Salvation Army in William’s name instead of sending more flowers, since we don’t want the room to be overcrowded. Our sincere thanks to all of those who have already sent so many wonderful arrangements.
The Alzheimer’s Association has an online form for donations as memorials. Please support this association in its effort to find effective treatment and prevention for Alzheimer’s Disease. William asked that people donate to the association when his wife passed away, so I know he’d appreciate your continued support.
I have no scientific study to cite on this; just my own observations. It seems that having routine tasks that must be done keeps someone who is developing Alzheimer’s or dementia sharper and more capable longer than people who don’t have any responsibilities.
For example, taking care of an ill relative. In one situation I know of, it came as a big shock, because this man seemed fairly alert right up until the week his wife, who had Alzheimer’s, died. The change was drastic. He went from being able to care for her, doing errands and even taking care of a bit of yardwork to wanting people to run red lights because he worried the ice cream might melt and being unable to figure out how to work the microwave. It was as if he knew he could give in to his illness since he had noone depending on him anymore.
Has anyone else noticed responsibilities like caring for another person or a pet seems to keep people suffering from these diseases from declining as rapidly?
Dream man, come to me.
Tell me what I already know,
so that I remember it tomorrow.
Tell me what I haven’t forgotten
in the deep pits that hide
in the dark forests of my memory.
Somewhere in the forests,
I still am.
The I that made treasures of
each special moment
still exists.
first baby steps
first words
first smiles
my daughter’s face
as she looked
into her new husband’s eyes.
I am afraid,
dropping into the pits
of my devoured memory,
not knowing
whether tomorrow
I will know anyone around me.
Please, dream man, help me.
I need to remember
what I already know.
-For Ginny
Using a dream catcher can be very helpful to keep the good dreams and let the evil go. Native Americans have used them for ages.
How do you explain Alzheimer’s to a child? It can definitely be a challenge. We were concerned how my niece would react when we all had Thanksgiving dinner together.
“What’s wrong with her?” she asked. As we tried to find the words to explain this terrible disease, my niece stared intently into the elderly woman’s eyes. Then, she turned her head and looked at us, eyes wide. “She looks old, but she’s a baby inside,” she announced and then began chatting away as if she was talking to her younger brother, describing what she’d done in school that day, a bird she saw in the window, etc.
However, not all children are so matter of fact about Alzheimer’s. If you’d like a way to prepare your child to meet an Alzheimer’s patient, feel free to read Al’s Hammer with him or her.
