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Great news. Monday I am moving my parents into shared rooms – and most importantly, a shared bed – at a board and care close to my home. To that end, I’ve been busy with electronic paperwork and facilitating the transfer…
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My Parents Are Still Apart
Overwhelmed with feelings of guilt. Trying to do the best I can. The assisted living memory care where my father has been staying cannot accommodate my mother’s difficulty swallowing liquids due to her stroke. My mother is back in skilled…
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Meaning and Mental Illness
I wrote this post for Lisa Bortolotti’s project Imperfect Cognitions: Blog on delusional beliefs, distorted memories, confabulatory explanations, and implicit biases. The blog was founded by Lisa Bortolotti in May 2013, after receiving the happy news that she had been…
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Thumper's Healing, Too
Sick in bed, eating blueberries, drinking tea with honey, sage & thyme, downing cinnamon, turmeric and oregano oil supplements, and spritzing throat with homeopathic zinc spray. Hubby just brought me Cup Noodles (could have sworn there was an ‘o…
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I, Too, Have Lost My Voice
In a seemingly ironic twist of fate, not only is my mother without words, without speech due to her stroke, but now I have fallen prey to an upper respiratory infection (cold or what have you) and cannot speak –…
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Time for Geriatric Psychiatric Hospitalization
Tuesday I took my mother from her stroke rehab to the hospital for a swallow test. When we returned to her stroke rehab afterwards, she refused to get out of my car. She went so far as to throw my…
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Stop this Circus – Prayer Request
The last few days have been a circus. My father made a run for it from memory care, setting off the alarm as he left the building to look for his car in their parking lot so he could find…
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Guilt Rears Its Head
Even with caregiver help, it’s been tough. Friday one of my mother’s occupational therapists told me she had asked nursing staff if my mother had been receiving any visitors. After being “on” since 11/14, I took time “off” to recuperate.…
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Thank You, Caregivers
Thank you to all the caregivers who have helped with my parents recently. Grateful for the excellent care my mom has received. Thank you: Jane Pamphile of Next Step Senior Care first started working with me over a year ago preparing…
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Insomnia – My Mind Will Not Rest
Insomnia and hypomania as I dealt with family health crisis – mother’s stroke and father’s dementia