I am amazed at the number of conversations I have in a day, where I have no idea what we are talking about. Huh? When you are talking with someone with dementia, the conversation can take all kinds of twists and turns. It may go down dark alleys where you don’t recognize anything. You may

I’ve been binge-watching old “The West Wing” shows lately, a series which ran from 1999-2006. I don’t have a TV, so it’s all new to me. This political drama gives us a fictional peek into the white house, the president and his top aides. I find it fascinating. The episode that I can’t stop thinking

When you begin your journey as a care partner, there is so much to learn. This is especially true if your loved one is suffering from Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia. You are full of questions. “What will happen? How fast?”“What can I expect?”“How do I handle________?”“What does it mean when____?” Because it is

Care comes in all different forms. Professional care partners, such as personal support workers, give one level of care, and they are needed for the hands-on care for people who can’t perform the activities of daily living on their own. Not everyone who needs care is unable to brush their own teeth or dress themselves. Today,

In it’s most extreme form, fear: cripples consumes limits empties life of it’s quality and joy takes diminishes Fear makes your world small and confusing. For the care partner, especially one new to the job. or facing a change, fear  can lead to wrong information and wrong choices. When you are afraid, you tend to

“How’s you mother doing?”“Oh, she’s just amazing. She’s 91, you know, and she still lives in her own house and does all her own cooking and cleaning. We bought her one of those monitoring things, where she can push a button if she gets in trouble, but that was more for our peace of mind.

We call it the “daughter from Florida syndrome” where I work. This is not to disparage daughters, and is certainly not about Florida (one of my favourite places in the world!) It’s a known fact that most care partners are women, and Florida is far from where I live. Hence the name. Just to make

I have a tiny screw in my glasses that keeps working itself loose. I’m not sure why, because I’ve never had to tighten the one on the other side. But every month or so, I have to grab a kitchen knife with a sharp edge and secure the screw. Except when I forget. If the

I was at work, and my husband, a victim of cardiac myopathy (enlarged, inefficient heart) was at home on short-term disability. It had been that way for several months, with several interruptions for hospitalisations. Since he had gone on disability, we had been looking for the new normal. We hadn’t found it yet. In the

Imagine you are in grade seven or eight. At school, you are at the top of the heap. You have worked your way up from frightening Kindergarten days to the confidence and coolness  of the oldest kids. In reality, you are probably far from confident, but on your home turf  and with your friends, you