A few years ago, when my mother-in-law was sinking deeper and deeper into dementia, my husband and I suddenly realized, with some help from professional geriatric counselors, that the devious brain disease had been lurking for some time. Although we had noticed a number of memory issues and behaviors, we continually chalked them up to … Continue reading
Tagged with Dementia …
Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Dementia
Adult children and their parents who are inveterate readers of fiction, especially prize-winning fiction, may want to read two posts at VOXXI (Hispanic Voice of the 21st Century) about Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The two posts are related and inter-connected, examining the tragedy of a great Nobel prize-winning writer who begins to suffer from memory problems, … Continue reading
More on Tracking Devices
Take a few minutes to read, Device Tracks Seniors Prone to Wandering, about tracking devices that use GPS sensors to keep track of people who wander and may get lost. This type of device will be useful for families worried about a loved on with memory loss. Writer Anne Tergesen writes for SmartMoney. The product … Continue reading
Dementia Incidence Going Down? We’ll Just Have to Wait and See
Is the incidence of dementia declining? We really want this to be true, because it would mean a lot less suffering for our parents’ generation and in our own. It’s personal and as we age the threat of dementia feels closer and closer. Unfortunately, when we hear news about the incidence of dementia declining we … Continue reading
A Daugher’s Long Goodbye: A Book Review by Mom and Me
When my mom picked up A Daughter’s Long Goodbye: Caring for Mother at the church library, she brought it home and quickly read it cover to cover. Then she suggested that I read it — well actually she instructed me to do so. Caring for Mother, written in 2007, is not easy reading. Virginia Stem … Continue reading
Maybe Some Good News About Fighting Alzheimer’s?
Short excerpt from The Fiscal Times, March 14, 2012 A Bold New Attack on the Alzheimer’s Scourge I’ve added a few links to this excerpt. Click on the above link to read the entire article by Michael Hodin, Executive Director of The Global Coalition on Aging. Dr. [Peter] Piot, who served as executive director of the … Continue reading
More Men are Becoming Caregivers
The Chicago Tribune has a story today (Valentine’s Day, 2012) about men who are caring for family members. In The Increasing Male Face of Caregiving Doug Wyman, who is semi-retired from a career in sales and marketing, explains how he assists his wife, who has Alzheimer’s disease. The couple has been married for 63 years. … Continue reading
Dementia Reality Tour
An article in the San Jose Mercury News describes a multi-sensory experience that simulates the perceptions and struggles of a person suffering from dementia. In Santa Clara ‘Dementia Reality Tour’ Shows What It’s Like to Live with the Affliction, Mercury News reporter Helen Shen describes how the simulation asks caregivers to complete routine activities of daily living (ADLs) … Continue reading
Amazing Alzheimer’s Videos Via a Small Hyperlink
When you read a good quality digital article or blog and think you know just about everything that it contains, check the hyperlinks — they may bring you some surprises. In fact, a small discrete hyperlink may open the door to resources that you don’t want to miss. In my case I discovered a set … Continue reading
Another Post on Dementia and The Iron Lady
Karin Kasdin writes on dementia and the Margaret Thatcher movie, The Iron Lady, reflecting and reinforcing some of my thoughts in Dementia, Margaret Thatcher, and What It’s Really Like (January 15, 2012). Moreover, she writes more about privacy issues, includes an insightful quote from Meryl Streep, and deftly identifies the fear that many adult children experience — and I include myself here — when … Continue reading
Dementia, Thatcher’s Privacy, and What It’s Really Like
Last night about 20 minutes into watching The Iron Lady interact with her dead husband, I leaned over to my husband and exclaimed, “Now I really understand what it was like was for your mother — she saw those things.” This movie is about dementia, not history. Lady Thatcher’s conversations with her husband Denis, were … Continue reading
Hospice Helps When a Parent With Dementia is Dying
Sometimes acquaintances describe how a hospice program entered the lives of an aging parent during the last week or even in the last few days of life. My husband and I are aware of just how much hospice offered to our family during the four months before his mother died. However, we have spoken with people — who … Continue reading
Different People – Different Dementias
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a March 14, 2011 article, The Many Faces of Dementia which describes different types of the brain diseases as well as the importance of accurately and carefully diagnosing the type of brain abnormality that is affecting each person. Collecting information for a diagnosis involves not only the physician and patient, … Continue reading
For the Person Who Remembers: Dementia’s Unbearable Pain
Many of us write about the grief, the burdens, the frustrations, and the unending pain of caring for a spouse or a parent with dementia, but rarely do we read an article that articulately expresses the confusion and torment that accompanies the disease as it incrementally destroys the essence of a beloved partner. In her … Continue reading
Three-Part Series on the Rigors of Aging Parent Caregiving
This week I discovered a great three-part series about aging parent caregiving, written by an adult child and published in the Redondo Beach Patch. I recommend taking a few minutes to read this set of short articles. When Mom Gets Old by Vanessa Poster appeared on March 15 – 17, 2010, and describes Ms. Poster’s … Continue reading
Alzheimer’s: Helping a Parent Manage Financial Issues
Interesting article in the November 5, 2010 New York Times describing how adult children can get started helping with finances when a parent has Alzheimer’s. In Stepping in for a Parent With Alzheimer’s reporter Tara Siegel Bernard consults with financial planners, shares their ideas, makes specific suggestions about getting started, and offers tips about how to be … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Languages, Dementia, and the Resilient Brain
Read a Wall Street Journal article that describes how people who speak multiple languages appear to have brains that resist some of the early symptoms and brain damage of dementia. The article, Building a More Resilient Brain, describes how a concept called cognitive reserve, often well-developed in bilingual individuals, may enable the brain to continue working even … Continue reading
Aging Parents: AD8 – More Effective Alzheimer’s Screening
E-Max Health reports on an article, Relationship of Dementia Screening Tests with Biomarkers of Alzheimer’s Disease (abstract), published online by the journal Brain. The October 10, 2010 article is free, but to get the text file it’s necessary to sign up for a login name and password at the journal website. In a longitudinal study … Continue reading
Extraordinary PBS Interview on Caregiving – Dr. Arthur Kleinman
In Caregiving: Feelings and Emotions I described several commentaries,written by Arthur Kleinman, MD, a psychiatrist and professor at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Kleinman wrote about providing care for his wife, Joan. The post explained: Dr. Kleinman, a caregiver for his wife, Joan, who has Alzheimer’s disease, writes eloquently about the emotions, the … Continue reading
Education and Dementia Risk
New dementia research conducted at the University of Cambridge finds that the brains of people with more education appear to be better equipped to deal with the effects of dementia. The announcement from the university reviews a number of past brain research results that connect education level with dementia, and then describes the new research appearing … Continue reading
As Our Parents Age So Do We 