People the world over are concerned about this disease and want to know if they too might be at risk for or already have AD.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Overwhelming Majority of the Public Want to Know If They Have Alzheimer's
Thursday, July 14, 2011
A Russian Language Link For All Of My Russian Blog Readers
Since launching my Caregiving Blog Page in April 0f 2010, I have been blessed with a wide range of both domestic and international visitors and readers. To my surprise, over 60% of my current visitors are originating from Russia. Many thanks to all of you for visiting my Blog and finding, hopefully, information and the opinions of mine to be informative and thought provoking.
Today, while surfing the web for articles and research concerning Alzheimer's Disease, I stumbled upon an AD website in Australia that was offering informational bulletins about Dementia / Alzheimer's printed in the Russian language. It is to my many Russian Blog readers that I am including the link here.
Dementia information in Russian language | Alzheimer’s Australia
Again, my many thanks and blessings to all of my Russian readers. My heart goes out to all of you who are involved now or will be with the caregiving of a dementia / AD diagnosed family member or relative. The future holds great promise and worldwide medical research has stepped up its' focus and sense of urgency with respect to finding medications that will first bring AD to a halt, then finally, working towards an eventual cure.
Jeff Dodson
July 14th 2011
Today, while surfing the web for articles and research concerning Alzheimer's Disease, I stumbled upon an AD website in Australia that was offering informational bulletins about Dementia / Alzheimer's printed in the Russian language. It is to my many Russian Blog readers that I am including the link here.
Dementia information in Russian language | Alzheimer’s Australia
Again, my many thanks and blessings to all of my Russian readers. My heart goes out to all of you who are involved now or will be with the caregiving of a dementia / AD diagnosed family member or relative. The future holds great promise and worldwide medical research has stepped up its' focus and sense of urgency with respect to finding medications that will first bring AD to a halt, then finally, working towards an eventual cure.
Jeff Dodson
July 14th 2011
3 Writers Whose Work Prepared Me For Caregiving
I have always been a enthusiastic reader since the time I entered elementary school. Many thanks here go to the late Earla McCall Dodson who was my paternal grandmother. She got me hooked on books with my mother Bea’s hearty encouragement.
Prior to finding myself involved in the role of caregiver beginning in 2004, I had already read a couple of the following books. They all helped prepare me and stimulated me into cultivating a mindset that would be harmonious with the care of one elderly and declining family member that, over the next seven years, gradually turned into four.
Each of these authors are known for the spiritual nature of their writings and work. At one time or another, all have made multiple appearances on the Oprah Winfrey Show as well as other popular venues.
#1. Betty J. Eadie with Curtis Taylor Embraced by the Light.
Originally published by the Gold Leaf Press in 1992. Bantam Books edition was released in 1994.
I purchased my copy of this little gem in 1995. It is a story shared by this Native American author of her firsthand near-death experience while undergoing surgery and of her joyful retained memories of the spirit world that awaits us all.
My take away from Beatty’s book came down to these concepts:
Your death is not a final end but merely the release of your spirit from the confines of a physical body and it’s return to it’s natural state of light and energy. A comforting notion for me to accept as well as knowledge to share with those that I have come to care for.
Power exists within your words, your intentions, by setting positive or negative energy into motion. With language we have the power to heal, to inspire, to lead or to denigrate, to hurt and to destroy. What a powerful concept! Words put into motion light and energy! This has taught me to be much more mindful and contemplative in what I say around my family and those that I care for. Now I find myself choosing words that praise, that positively validate, that compliment and encourage those that need my daily assistance.
Because we all arrived here with the power of having a free will to make our own choices, our own joy or our own misery and discontent originates from within. Mind over matter. Things happen to us every day that may help us or thwart us. We have no control over most of it but we can choose to react in a positive way regardless of what it is that occurs!
Published in 1989 as a Fireside Book by Simon & Schuster.
I grabbed a copy of this book after seeing Gary appear in 1994 on the Oprah Winfrey Show. I had never heard of or seen Gary Zukav before but listening to him speak on Oprah’s show was like sitting in front of a cozy campfire in the forest late at night listening intently to a philosopher or wise sage. I was immediately intrigued by how this guy spoke with conviction and grace and with a brevity of words. Gary Zukav speaks of all of us “attending Earth School” as we live out our allotted time upon this planet. I had never thought of our time here before as time being spent in a form of school!
The Seat Of The Soul is all about mankind's’ evolutionary transformation from a five-sensory human into a multi-sensory human. In other words, learning to reacquaint ourselves with our deep core spiritual energy as we move away from the distraction of our physical worldly- grounded personalities. We inhabit the world that we live in as a spirit residing within a physical body. We spend most of our lives unfortunately, dwelling upon our physical selves, our wants and needs of the personality, instead of our spiritual core and what we came here for as our purpose.
So how did this book help me with caregiving?
I like the notion of focusing in on our purpose. It turns out that my was always there in front of me to trip over: my passion for writing, educating and the use of written language to reach out to others.
Another compelling reason is that a lot of what caregiving has to do with is your serving as a companion to another person who is dying or has a terminal illness. They are coming to grips with their own eventual death. You are basically acting as an escort and guide for them all the way up to the “departure lounge” prior to their passing. Gary’s book taught me how to treat and look upon others less fortunate than me with compassion and reverence rather than pity or annoyance. I was beginning to accept Gary’s teachings prior to entering the caregiving world in 2004. As I traveled deeper into caregiving and the disturbing world of Alzheimer’s and dementia, I found myself going back to Gary’s book more frequently and using his writings as one of my compasses or GPS devices to navigate with.
Gary speaks of having reverence or showing respect and consideration for those around us and of nature. This begins with having and cultivating respect for oneself first, then, extending this quality out to others as well as holding reverence and respect for those aging senior parents of ours.
Over the years since buying Gary’s book, I have reread portions of it countless times. It has been yellow-highlighted, crammed with mini-post-it notes and scribbled in with my own page margin reminders.
#3. Dr. Wayne Dyer.
My all-time favorite inspirational author and lecturer. I’ve watched several of his PBS speaking presentations over the past 10 years and have read 4 of his books. I make it a point of regularly visiting his web site to read his Blog essays.
The four books of his that I’ve read through and devoured are:
The PowerOf Intention. Published by Hay House, 2004, Inspiration: Your Ultimate Calling. Published by Hay House, 2006, Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life. Published by Hay House, 2007, and , Excuses Be Gone! Published by Hay House, 2009.
What I have learned from Dr. Dyer that applies to caregiving are these points.
Faith in our Source
We all originated and came here from an infinite nonphysical realm. That Universal Source is all-knowing and ready to share it’s abundance with you. It is your option to choose placing your trust and guidance in the hands of that Source. Applying the best that I know how each day with my caregiving challenge along with asking for ongoing assistance from that Source will serve to keep me on an optimum path.
Tune in to your Intuition
This is what I call our “OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) I-Phone”. It came pre-activated with all of us before birth and remains on throughout our lives. It’s bundled application, if it were up to me to name it, might well be referred to as “Spirit/Source: Infinite Deity Version”. It is our private Com-Line with which our Spirit and our Source tune in to each other. I have always been aware of mine. Since becoming a reader of Dr. Dyer’s books, I carve out portions of time each week to listen in to my own private intuition.
Everything occurs in cycles
Just like with Mother Nature, there is a cyclical rhythm to all that comes our way. The good times are always followed by the challenging or down times. It always appears darkest just before a bright sunrise. Nothing rotten, unpleasant or evil will last or reside with you forever. Learn to allow for this and ride out the tough times.
Make expressing Gratitude one of my daily behaviors
This has been part of my makeup for many years. The difference now is that I make it a point of finding ways to express gratitude often every day. It costs you nothing yet it is the balm, the salve and the acknowledgment of the actions of another that will brighten up that other person’s day when you offer it up to them.
I no longer fear my own death
Now I have come to understand that it is not a final unavoidable collision with absolute blackness. Rather, it is merely a brief state of transition from residing within the physical world that we have spent a short while in then reverting back into our amazing sun-bright energized state. I have vowed to live my life now much more fully but without fear of what is now just a myth.
We all have our favorite authors. These are three of mine that I have drawn caregiving inspiration and motivation from. If you are a caregiver, as I imagine many of you are, look to these writers as I have for your own source of reinforcement in what you are doing and why you are doing it.
Jeff Dodson
July 14th 2011
As a caregiver I welcome your leaving a comment about books you have read that inspired how you approach your daily caregiving mission.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Grandparents & Grandchildren
A great article that touches upon this topic with respect to children and an elderly person stricken with cognitive problems was posted upon Bob DeMarco’s Alzheimer’s Reading Room web site. The article by Tom & Karen Brenner entitled, Little People, Little Miracles, was posted on February 2nd 2011.
Grandparents and grandchildren have been an inseparable mix within our family structure since time immemorial. They go together like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Children come without guile, an agenda or a “judgment template” from which to view the world. They simply accept and embrace with wonder and curiosity.
Grandparents delight in teaching and sharing their wisdom with the children. They marvel over each child’s schoolwork accomplishments and what they create or make up while at play. Children re-ignite some of the very memories and experiences a grandparent felt so many decades before. A perfect example of mutual attraction for one another.
My position here is that every effort needs to be made by family's to allow frequent access between their Alzheimer’s afflicted grandparents and the grandchildren. Unlike adults, children look past the disease and it’s symptoms and see the essence of their grandma or grandpa. We adults obsess and become distracted over the disease symptoms and can loose track of the grandparents’ humanity which still remains.
Frequent contact between children and their AD grandparents serves as a positive therapy for both. The energy flow of light and love acts as a bridge between the two generations. It should be maintained as long as the grandparent lives.
Children and grandparents demonstrate a consistent and amazing ability to reach out to each other and reach around the parental generation that stands between them. You might call this an empathetic pairing or match up.
It is appropriate that parents choose to take on the role of enablers here and make every effort to provide and allow for contact between child and grandparent. Put aside feelings of embarrassment and fear that may have prevented you from bringing them together. Allow yourself to place trust in the connective bond that is an instinctive behavior between the very young and the very old.
Children do not get hung up on grandpa’s stuttering or belabored speech. They are not put off by grandma’s missing dentures. They don’t mind the long pauses between words or sentences. They are not bothered that grandma wears a pouffy silver/blue vanity wig or that grandpa always greets them with the faint smell of spearmint lifesavers on his clothing. And they don’t care that grandma watches Jeopardy and Wheel Of Fortune almost every day. Those are simply viewed as “Grandma’s Shows.”
Children are just happy that they have one or more grandparents to go visit, to have contact with and to bask in the glow of the undivided attention that the seniors bestow upon them.
Still doubt the attraction between the two age groups here? Remember, even after 50 years, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich is still one of the most popular kids’ sandwiches. But it was invented by a grandparent long ago.
Kids and grandparents.
Bring them together and let them be.
Jeff Dodson
July 8th 2011
Grandparents and grandchildren have been an inseparable mix within our family structure since time immemorial. They go together like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Children come without guile, an agenda or a “judgment template” from which to view the world. They simply accept and embrace with wonder and curiosity.
Grandparents delight in teaching and sharing their wisdom with the children. They marvel over each child’s schoolwork accomplishments and what they create or make up while at play. Children re-ignite some of the very memories and experiences a grandparent felt so many decades before. A perfect example of mutual attraction for one another.
My position here is that every effort needs to be made by family's to allow frequent access between their Alzheimer’s afflicted grandparents and the grandchildren. Unlike adults, children look past the disease and it’s symptoms and see the essence of their grandma or grandpa. We adults obsess and become distracted over the disease symptoms and can loose track of the grandparents’ humanity which still remains.
Frequent contact between children and their AD grandparents serves as a positive therapy for both. The energy flow of light and love acts as a bridge between the two generations. It should be maintained as long as the grandparent lives.
Children and grandparents demonstrate a consistent and amazing ability to reach out to each other and reach around the parental generation that stands between them. You might call this an empathetic pairing or match up.
It is appropriate that parents choose to take on the role of enablers here and make every effort to provide and allow for contact between child and grandparent. Put aside feelings of embarrassment and fear that may have prevented you from bringing them together. Allow yourself to place trust in the connective bond that is an instinctive behavior between the very young and the very old.
Children do not get hung up on grandpa’s stuttering or belabored speech. They are not put off by grandma’s missing dentures. They don’t mind the long pauses between words or sentences. They are not bothered that grandma wears a pouffy silver/blue vanity wig or that grandpa always greets them with the faint smell of spearmint lifesavers on his clothing. And they don’t care that grandma watches Jeopardy and Wheel Of Fortune almost every day. Those are simply viewed as “Grandma’s Shows.”
Children are just happy that they have one or more grandparents to go visit, to have contact with and to bask in the glow of the undivided attention that the seniors bestow upon them.
Still doubt the attraction between the two age groups here? Remember, even after 50 years, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich is still one of the most popular kids’ sandwiches. But it was invented by a grandparent long ago.
Kids and grandparents.
Bring them together and let them be.
Jeff Dodson
July 8th 2011
I Just Do Not Want To Deal With This Today
I am beat. I am spent. I have run out of energy and coping skills way before I have run out of the hours left in the day. 16 to 18 hour days chained together in unison begin to blur and merge into one uninterrupted freight train.
Is today Wednesday or is it already Friday?
How many doctor visits, prescription medication refills, bills to be paid or errand stops have we logged on the calendar for today? Oh, and today is really Saturday? What happened to the past 3 days?
On the phone, on the go, writing checks, driving seniors to and from their many doctors’ appointments. Grab a coffee shop meal here and there then off to the next destination or mission.
Then there is my full-time sales and supervisory position with our local Elk Grove Home Depot. The weekly work schedule often varies which means caregiving duties and all other activities must be woven and stitched between and around my home improvement work hours.
Whew! Mixing full time caregiving with a full time job is kinda like tossing into a salad blender the activities of an executive secretary, a touring rock band sound & stage setup roadie, nurse, taxi driver and handyman. Gotta be organized yet quick and somewhat manic, have a formidable attention and recall for details and have a healthy and sturdy cast iron back.
Would somebody just lead me to a dark, quiet blackened cave with a soft spot to collapse in and sleep for 5 days nonstop??
I wish to embark upon my own mini-hibernation for, say a week. Just like the bears do in winter.
Don’t get me wrong here. I am not a quitter and never have been. I actually stepped into the caregiving world with both my eyes wide open. Ready to make sacrifices and put the interests of our aging parents ahead of myself.
It is just that today is still only Saturday and I have emptied my fuel tank before this day has ended.
My wife says I can fall asleep as quick as within 3 minutes flat.
With sleep in mind, where’s my trusted old friend, “Mr. Living Room Couch”?
“Yo! Mr. Couch! Your most popular recliner is about to land once again!”
Perhaps today, I can beat my falling off to sleep in under 3 minutes record with a new personal best elapsed time?
I just really do not want to deal with anything more today!
This is Jeff Dodson...signing off.
Jeff Dodson
July 7th 2011
Is today Wednesday or is it already Friday?
How many doctor visits, prescription medication refills, bills to be paid or errand stops have we logged on the calendar for today? Oh, and today is really Saturday? What happened to the past 3 days?
On the phone, on the go, writing checks, driving seniors to and from their many doctors’ appointments. Grab a coffee shop meal here and there then off to the next destination or mission.
Then there is my full-time sales and supervisory position with our local Elk Grove Home Depot. The weekly work schedule often varies which means caregiving duties and all other activities must be woven and stitched between and around my home improvement work hours.
Whew! Mixing full time caregiving with a full time job is kinda like tossing into a salad blender the activities of an executive secretary, a touring rock band sound & stage setup roadie, nurse, taxi driver and handyman. Gotta be organized yet quick and somewhat manic, have a formidable attention and recall for details and have a healthy and sturdy cast iron back.
Would somebody just lead me to a dark, quiet blackened cave with a soft spot to collapse in and sleep for 5 days nonstop??
I wish to embark upon my own mini-hibernation for, say a week. Just like the bears do in winter.
Don’t get me wrong here. I am not a quitter and never have been. I actually stepped into the caregiving world with both my eyes wide open. Ready to make sacrifices and put the interests of our aging parents ahead of myself.
It is just that today is still only Saturday and I have emptied my fuel tank before this day has ended.
My wife says I can fall asleep as quick as within 3 minutes flat.
With sleep in mind, where’s my trusted old friend, “Mr. Living Room Couch”?
“Yo! Mr. Couch! Your most popular recliner is about to land once again!”
Perhaps today, I can beat my falling off to sleep in under 3 minutes record with a new personal best elapsed time?
I just really do not want to deal with anything more today!
This is Jeff Dodson...signing off.
Jeff Dodson
July 7th 2011
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