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By Bill November 17th, 2011
B-24 Liberator
Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving are the November holidays. Many people see Veteran’s day as an extra day off or just another workday. Thanksgiving is about overeating and football, and the real holiday event is shopping on Black Friday.
This year, the November holidays are blending into memories. This was triggered by an email we got from a regular reader. She wants us to record memories and voices of Alzheimer’s people. Audrey and Frank, Carol and Judi’s parents, both had dementia, but not Alzheimer’s. Bernie, Audrey’s second husband, did have Alzheimer’s. We weren’t direct caregivers but we saw the terrible progression of his disease.
Bernie was a WWII Veteran of the Eighth Air Force which had the highest casualty rate of any U. S. Army unit in the war. He was …
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By Carol September 27th, 2011
Reviewing Hope for Helpers and More Help for Helpers by Michael Byrd
Bill recently posted his response to Pat Robertson’s remarks on Alzheimer’s disease and caregiving. Bill and many others have expressed another side of the caregiving experience in the wake of Robertson’s suggestion that a man should divorce his wife in advanced stages of the disease. No one denies that caring for someone with dementia is a tough road, but caregivers know that the journey can bring us more than just pain and sacrifice.
Chaplain Michael Byrd has written two timely ebooks for caregivers who want to keep on caregiving and save their sanity. Michael draws on his more than fifteen years experience working with elders and their caregivers to create these helpful companion electronic resources.
While he brings his generous spirituality to …
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By Bill September 22nd, 2011
Pat Robertson
Pat Robertson made an astounding comment on his TV show last week. His comment came in response to a caller who said that a friend had begun dating other women while his wife lies seriously ill with Alzheimer’s, and justifies it by saying that “his wife, as he knows her, is gone.”
Robertson said he agrees with the man: “What he says basically is correct. I know it sounds cruel, but if he’s going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her.”
His co-host pressed Robertson about whether that violates the marriage vows. Robertson responded that Alzheimer’s “is a kind of death” and added, “I certainly wouldn’t put a guilt trip on you” for …
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By Carol September 18th, 2011
The folks at Online Degree love to research. Recently their top staff writer Anna Miller contacted us with some research they have done on well known Alzheimer’s disease patients. We thought we’d share it with you. My skills are not advanced enough to correct some of the formatting problems resulting from my copy and paste approach, but if you want to see the original work, click the following link:
10 Famous People Who Battled Alzheimer’s
Alzheimer’s disease is a tragic condition that steals the mental abilities of its victims, keeping them from recognizing things and people they once loved and isolating them in their own world. Researchers have been trying to figure out the mysterious disease for years, but so far, there is no cure. More than 5 million Americans have the …
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By Bill September 1st, 2011
I am writing fairly brief posts because I am a bit busy caregiving. My wife Carol is recovering nicely from surgery and her son Steve will have surgery Friday. I am caregiver for both.
This story ran in Sunday’s Denver Post newspaper. It is a story about the tragedy of Alzheimer’s and the enduring magic of love. Do read it all. I would insert it here, but copyright laws prevent my doing so.
Alzheimer's
The story is one of someone slowly being robbed of her mind, and her husband’s witness to her decline. She always recognized him, and some elements of her personality stayed with her. This is similar to what happened to Frank and Audrey, Carol’s parents. Frank had significant memory loss, but his personality was intact until he died of other …
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