My Caregiving Season

Like you, I’m a caregiver. My 92-year-old mother is in fair health, yet her macular degeneration has robbed her of most of her vision. She relies on me to provide dinner every day, pay her bills, pick up prescriptions, and take her to endless doctor appointments. My struggle is seeing my mother as more than an…

The Manipulated Caregiver

The Manipulated Caregiver

“What time do you leave for work in the morning?” It’s 7:30 at night, and my mom has called to ask me a seemingly innocuous question. “Usually around 8:00 or so.” My hand grips the phone, waiting for the sucker punch. “Oh,” she says, with a sigh. The silence lengthens. I’m determined to wait her…

I Can’t Hear You

Have you ever ignored someone speaking to you? Perhaps she asked you to do something you didn’t want to do (this is especially pervasive in the teen years). Sometimes I pretend I can’t hear my husband when he asks me for the seventh time how to find a document on the computer. He admits to…

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The Mind Thief

This is a guest post from Ada, whose husband has dementia. There are many feelings associated with losing a loved one to dementia.  He is still here physically and mentally, there is a person there, but not necessarily my Gary.  It is some other form of a man. He doesn’t think like him, nor act like…