Burden. It means hardship, mental weight, or strain. It’s a word caregivers at dementia support groups dance around awkwardly. Caregivers vent. They talk about their lack of privacy or their dearth of support. They discuss their frustrations and challenges. They say they have no time to care for their own health or spend with friends. Every once in while, someone cries. But then it usually … Continue reading The B Word in Dementialand
When I was in graduate school, I had a friend who was going through a rough stretch in her relatively new marriage. She told me something that struck me as interesting…and sad. She said that she was sometimes lonely when she was single, but that loneliness did not compare to the loneliness she now felt when her husband was right next to her. Her husband seemed like a stranger to her. Continue reading A Special and Weird Kind of Loneliness in Dementialand
I was talking to some friends a few weeks back, and the TV show My 600-Pound Life on TLC came up in conversation. It’s a reality show about super-obese individuals who get weight loss surgery and attempt to change their lives for the better. For some reason, I was hesitant to admit to my friends that I watch the show. I wanted to say I had … Continue reading Before and After in Dementialand (Or Why I Watch TLC and HGTV)
A few weeks ago, someone made a not-very-nice comment about my blog. It’s okay. I’m over it (sort of), but I can’t say it didn’t sting. It wasn’t constructive criticism. It was mean-spirited rather than useful. I even lost some sleep, and sleeping is my favorite thing in the world. (If you know me, you know that I don’t exactly excel on little sleep.) I … Continue reading Pushy Awesome Friends in Dementialand
When Dementia Knocks 