Posted 4/4/24
“Find a time and place to pray. Read your Bible every day”- Found inside the cover of my Great Grandpa’s Bible
I am not a 24/7 caregiver although I certainly have activities at many hours of the day, but I am overloaded. I can’t imagine in 2024 being a sandwich generation member and trying to juggle the dementia caregiving 24/7. It is partially for these folks that I do the many things I do for our cause. That being said, I am buried up to my neck. While this is an atypical week, it isn’t far from the rest of 2024 so far.
Proofs:
- It is beginning of the amazing Washington DC Alzheimer’s Impact Movement Forum weekend
- Support groups for caregivers have been in the last 2 weeks including this Monday.
- I help in other Alzheimer’s-related committees.
- I have been uber-busy at SeniorAge, my paid job. I have probably worked 10 new cases of dementia from a case management sense the last week. Lots of computer issues, desks to be moved, vendor problems, etc…
- Mowing my yard Sunday came just before 2 days of serious storms. BTW…I am on our local CERT team and the county COAD, either of whom could have called me to work on a potential disaster. There was an F-1 tornado in the county adjacent to me and an F-0 in mine.
- I have a family with events and important/fulfilling obligations.
- Driving an hour each way to work and an extra 20 minutes each way to see Mom is time-consuming.
- Mom isn’t doing great. Ear bleed is fixed. Seizure activity isn’t.
- Involved in 2 big clinical studies that have multi-day meetings soon.
- Getting prepared for my June Longest Day events is day-to-day and is hard to work out.
- Many other things.
Life in 2024 is hard. It is time-consuming and you surely can’t take time off of work or the resulting back load will negate your refreshment. What can we do? Here are some thoughts from a pot calling the kettle black:
- Make breaks happen. Schedule them. When I run/walk/do stairs in events, I don’t look ahead to the end, I just look a few steps ahead and accomplish that, then do it again and again and again. Each time I achieve that mini-goal, I feel better.
- Invest in planning and scheduling. Whether you are a full-time or part-time caregiver, scheduling your day matters. Spend the time needed to have a good plan. Your loved one thrives much better with a fixed schedule, so it will work out well to create one.
- Build a care team- You need help. I need help. Find respite time wither through an HFC Grant, an Alzheimer’s Association reimbursement program like we have in Missouri (call 1-800-272-3900 to see if you have respite help available), hospice palliate care programs (hospice for dementia isn’t a “everyone bring you a casserole” program like it can be for some diseases. They are a longer-term partner), or even a family or church.
- Speaking of getting help, keep a list of things they can do if someone asks how they can help. 🙂 Having a specific task or two in your pocket is a great plan.
- Keep a joy journal- Log the good times among the bad and go back and look at them again and again. We are so blessed.
- Prayer and meditating are great for the soul and for the psyche.
- Less TV (especially the news), less social media, and more outside, fresh air and sun. The stress of the world accumulates like socks in a dryer abyss. If you need news to feel informed, balance it with much more non-news.
- Music. Just do some. Enjoy some. Share some.
- Art…same.
- Breathe. I go whole days on one breath some days and don’t even realize it.
- Read a book like it is 1984 instead of 2024. Can’t make time…Audible one. 🙂
- Share your tricks for others here…
I am tired friends. I covet your prayer and loving chastisement to practice what I preach.
#EndALZ
Update: Mom was more awake yesterday than she has been in a while. No seizures. No apparent pain. Win!
Blessings to you all! 🙂 Sorry for the long gap yet again between pieces. I have 20 more ready in my mind if I can just flop them onto the keyboard. 🙁