Transitions

How to Help Dad Let Go of the Car Keys

November 10, 2011

If your aging parent has dementia (and even if he/she doesn’t), the thought of him/her driving is most definitely enough to keep you up at night. What if they forget the route home? What if their reflexes aren’t so good and they get hit by a speeding car from the side or worse, they hit [...]

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“Have Mom Live with Me or Move Her to a Nursing Home?”

September 5, 2011

Is this the debate that’s raging in your head? I’m not surprised.  And rest assured — you’ve got company. I often receive questions through this site from adult children who are standing at this particular crossroads. The decision of where mom or dad should live is bearing down on their shoulders and they’re tired (exhausted, [...]

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Transition #5: From Family Caregiver to Former Family Caregiver

September 1, 2010

Three weeks after Joan’s transition from Spouse to Wound Care Nurse and almost eight years to the day of Joe’s diagnosis of dementia, he died. The “silver lining” as Joan called it, was that he died at home, “where he wanted to be and where I wanted him to be too.” There were times when [...]

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Transition #4: From Family Caregiver to Wound Care Nurse

August 25, 2010

The Decision To Care For A Loved One At Home It had been two years since Joe had come home to live with and be cared for by his wife Joan – a full five years since he was diagnosed with dementia. He was declining now at a rapid pace – physically as well as [...]

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Transition #3: From Private Person to 7-Eleven Manager

August 11, 2010

Help At Home Brings A Loss Of Privacy For Family Members It was a Monday and Joan was rattled. She’d called me early in the morning and left a message that described so fully and completely what often happens in the day-to-day of caring for someone with dementia. “Maria, it’s Joan…” she said. “An equipment [...]

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Transition #2: From Go-It-Alone to Asking for Help

July 28, 2010

In big ways and small, Joan had learned that the only person she could ever truly rely on was herself. It was a lesson first taught to her by her mother as a young girl and it was deeply rooted in distrust – not only in people but also in life and what it brings. [...]

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Transition #1: From Spouse to Family Caregiver

July 14, 2010

In the summer of 2006, Joan’s husband Joe was arrested.  Not by the police, and certainly not as the result of anything he’d done wrong. No, Joe was arrested for a far more insidious reason – he was arrested by dementia. All indications were that Alzheimer’s disease was the cause. A strong, able-bodied man who’d [...]

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Transitions in Caregiving

July 5, 2010

(Moving beyond the literal to explore the existential…) A sk any health care administrator today to define the term transitions in care and chances are that he or she will have a lot to say.  Although the phrase hasn’t reached Merriam-Webster’s radar yet, I have no doubt that it will. The phrase often refers to [...]

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