Keeping Your Mind While They're Losing Theirs

Fifty years ago, handling Alzheimer’s and Dementia would not have even been a topic of conversation, let alone a book. Your grandparents got old so your parents took care of them. Then when your parents got old, you took care of them. Heck, they taught classes in high school on how to care for people when they were bed-ridden. I only know that because my neighbor took the class. Point being, in just a few years, this family act of caring left the American psyche. How, I do not know. It isn’t like people stopped getting old or were suddenly filled with glee at the idea of going to a convalescent home. Rarely does anyone say, “When I get old, weee!! Assisted living is for me!” So here we all are and the thought of bringing in a family member to care for fills us all with fear, mostly fear about how our lives will change for the worse. Why don’t we ever think they could possibly change for the better? And when did we stop valuing emotional change over economic gain and less responsibility? I am here to tell you it will definitely change. You can fight it and be miserable, or you can go with the flow and have a little fun, gaining something really amazing in the process. I started writing to help me deal with what was happening to my mom and myself. From our first trip to the Neurologist to seeing a scan of my mom’s brain and hearing the words Alzheimer’s. By the way, that picture did make the Fridge De Metropolitan. My mom’s desire to play hide and seek with thawing meat or her walking in circles for hours, repeating the same word over and over just about killed me. Until one day, I gained some much needed perspective and found the sense of humor I had lost somewhere along the way. I learned to roll with the punches and take the good whenever and wherever I could find it. I kept her home as long as I could, then we searched for a facility. That was the most difficult, mainly due to guilt and worry, wondering if you are doing the right thing. Then, after a few years and a lot of money, she came right back home again. Some stories are amusing and some are just parables on life and making the best of a bad situation. But really, this book is about finding perspective and humor when all seems lost. If you think you may be losing your mind because you are forced to answer the same question again and again or you are hiding in the bathroom for just a few minutes of peace, this is a book to help you find the funny side of things and the perspective you may have lost.