Entries 519

Page 17 of 21

I haven’t seen many surveys on the pandemic, so I decided to create my own. Here are questions I ask myself and which I have answered here. For the most part these questions don’t lend themsel...

---

April 25, 2020 My dear mother passed away on January 28 after many years of struggling with diabetes and vascular dementia. I thank God I was able to be with her and take care of her all those ...

---

First of all, let me say that I am more thankful than ever in my life to have enough food to eat and to be able to purchase more if I run low, which I am now. When I read about food banks natio...

---

The days are passing quickly for me because there are so many things to occupy my mind. Week after week goes by in these days of mandated stay-at-home edicts and social distancing, and it’s all ...

---

Life is so quietly surreal these days that lying here in bed tonight I wonder if I’m even truly conscious of how different everything is now, entering the fourth week of isolating myself at home ...

---

I can’t believe I’m writing this, but the worldwide virus pandemic has really come home to Charleston. Stay at home. All but essential businesses closed. Restaurants closed. Tourists gone. ...

---

The virus is now a pandemic, the stock market has tanked, schools are closing and were all supposed to be practicing good hand-washing routines and social distancing, which I am, as best I can. ...

---

(My mother passed away Jan. 28 after many years of struggling with dementia and diabetes. She was 96.) “Goooood morning! Time to wake up, sleepy head.” I always reluctantly headed for Mom’s be...

---

The other night I visited the Chinese Lantern Festival at Magnolia Gardens called “Lights of Magnolia.” It was spectacular, a sensory experience that was both magical and surreal. I went with m...

---

It’s a strange and quiet new world since my mother passed from this life in the early morning hours of Jan. 28. I can hardly believe I’m writing this. I thought I was prepared for the day, but ...

---

Mom is at rest now, her more than decade-long struggle with dementia and diabetes is over. She passed away in a deep sleep early this past Tuesday. It surprised me, and yet it didn’t. All I c...

---

This is probably the most difficult entry to write up until now. I’ve done a lot of thinking and soul-searching but could only come up with vague ideas that didn’t deal adequately with the grav...

---

Jan. 3, 2020 It’s been 2 ½ years since I retired, and that momentous milestone was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I, of course, am far from free to do what I want since I am t...

---

How can I even describe what things are like now? I struggle to find the words that even begin to approximate the surreal world of advanced dementia. Not only is Mom increasingly anxious, fearf...

---

Every time I’m in a Barnes & Noble and see a new iteration of the popular and bestselling travel and wish-list guide, “1,000 places to see before you die,” I avert my gaze quickly and move o...

---

It is getting more and more difficult to write this Dementia Journal as I fear I’m repeating myself and rehashing some of the same thoughts and feelings. But continue it I must until the very en...

---

It’s like being in a different world this week compared to last. I’m relatively relaxed, life seems to have returned to what passes for normal these days, and Hurricane Dorian is now a terrible,...

---

My whole life I’ve been aware of the homeless among us. I remember like it was yesterday driving with my parents in downtown New Orleans and going down Camp Street, which was the city’s Skid Row ...

---

One of the most frequent comments I get from people who read my journal is this, “I don’t know how you do it. I could never do what you’re doing.” Before I say anything else, I’ll say this. I...

---

The summer heat is bearing down on us big time now in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. I’m feeling my age, too, and can’t seem to take the heat like I once could. Shady sidewalks have never se...

---

5 am Deborah Barr wrote a beautiful and wise book for caregivers titled, “Grace for the Unexpected Journey: a 60-day devotional for Alzheimer’s and other dementia caregivers.” I’m only about ha...

---

Things are getting harder and harder. I can’t bear to think of it, but I see Mom entering the last stage. I’m thinking more frequently of Hospice, particularly as I believe I’ll soon need a nu...

---

Back in the late 50’s and early 60s, before I started my lawn mowing business, my brother and I were given a very modest allowance of 25 cents a week. Even adjusted for inflation it wasn’t much...

---

This has been a week of extremes with Mom. Most days she is sleeping all day and only waking in the latter part of the evening. And this can be a truly deep sleep wherein it’s increasingly diff...

---

It’s a quiet Saturday night in early February and I’m sitting here on the sofa with Mom listening to some relaxing music and my new, lighted Zen waterfall. It’s very peaceful. The home aide lef...

---