Duet Arizona sponsored a day retreat for caregivers on Friday March 20. It was a refreshing success for 25 attendees who enjoyed massages, food and life-changing information. Read the details here
It is January 2016
I am 69
69
69
69
A 6 and a 9
It has a certain
symmetry
the 6 becomes the 9
a roundness
you can flip it
twirl it
set it on its side
still the number
reads the same
its meaning will not change
I am
69
years old
and
counting
The Blue Guitar Magazine
Every caregiver needs a support group. You may think you don’t, but you do.
See page 79 of the Arizona Consortium For the Arts magazine The Blue Guitar for details.
http://www.theblueguitarmagazine.org/resources/Blue+Guitar+Spring+2015_FINAL.pdf
Caregivers never want to “bother anyone” because it’s “not bad enough yet.”
I hear this so many times in the group that I facilitate that I took the challenge last week.
“So,” I said after hearing an account of falling in which the caregiver and her husband with advanced Alzheimer’s both sustained bruises and bloody limbs. He fell into the front flowerbed and could not get up by himself. She reached down to hoist him up and ended up catapulted against a concrete wall when he proved too heavy for her to lift.
“If you had a sore tooth, you would wait until there was pus coming out of your gums and you were delirious with throbbing pain before you called the dentist?” There was silence from the eight caregivers in my living room. I continued, “You know it isn’t going to get any better by itself.”
It’s hard to ask for help. I know it so well. But when a loved one becomes more and more unable to help with transfers, when he is too weak and falls often, his caregiver is risking her own good health if she doesn’t make arrangements for assistance.
Honest caregiver talk Part 2 hits home. Listen to this chat to overcome that isolated, overwhelmed feeling. Rebecca asks such probing questions. I told it all. Try to forget what has changed. Don’t stew about the future. Focus on the golden moments. An inspiring estate sale around Mt. Tabor Park. An artist who left behind an ink and white paper drawing.
Caregiver Chat at Improvement Radio
Mom’s last Mother’s Day at Crystals Springs.
Survival tips for caregivers are on the shelf at Changing Hands Bookstore, 6428 S McClintock, Tempe AZ. Life begins at 40 there.
Changing Hands Books Store in Tempe
If they have sold out, just ask for More Than I Could Ever Know: How I Survived Caregiving.”
I returned a book at the library a few days ago and almost ran into a tripod at the front door. They have posted my Jan 14 book signing event. I hope it’s warmer than it is today on Jan 14 at 1 PM. It was 33 degrees last night here in the Valley of the Sun.
Book Signing
Jan 14, 2015 at 1 PM
The Ups and Downs of Caregiving
Caregiver’s Voice has reviewed my book with some interesting comments. She highlighted the love story.
http://thecaregiversvoice.com/tcv-review/the-caregivers-voice-review-more-than-i-could-ever-know/
At long last, my caregiver book is a reality.
“More Than I Could Ever Know:
How I Survived Caregiving” is on Amazon.com.
Use the LOOK INSIDE feature to check it out.
