Summer Tribulations

We are starting out summer schedule this month. While we are in a stay at home mode like most of the rest of you, we aren’t out, finding new material or meeting people with stories to share. This means that my “creative juices” don’t get triggered as much. We are also updating our computers and so I’ll be spending my time learning new programs and systems.

Today, I’m writing about the times we are in, where many things have combined to make a care partner’s already difficult job even more difficult.

• Many of you who are already fighting your own battles with LBD. Who needs more? But there is more and it keeps coming!
• Covid19 had caused issues for each of us: lack of supplies, poor access to medical help and loss of contact with family and friends. It has hit our economy so that many of you may be finding it difficult to pay bills. Perhaps the most difficult is the poor if any access to our loved ones in care facilities.
• Then we have a year where summer isn’t even here yet but temperatures are already heating up, bringing fires that cause evacuations and sometimes, permanent loss of homes. In other places, hurricanes and other weather-related are causing the same kind of problems.This would be bad enough in normal times but trying to stay safe in the Covid era when you are homeless becomes impossible. Trying to care for a loved one with LBD is made even more difficult when you can’t place them in a care facility until you can find a new home.
• Now add the unrest with the protesters. We support their concerns and have been thrilled that many have chosen to protest peacefully and that in many cases, the police are supporting rather than fighting the protesters. We are appalled at the rioters and looters that give the protesters a bad name and damage their cause. But the unrest makes it more difficult for those of you caring for loved ones to get out of your home to do shopping or do other necessary errands. Just one more tribulation to add to an already long list.

So those are the negatives. What are the positives? Sometimes, they are hard to find but I believe that such adversity helps us to better appreciate what we do have. For each of us, that list is going to be different. Do you have a safe, comfortable home to stay in? Do you have stores that deliver or stay open at extra hours? (We go shopping now at 6am!) Do you have air conditioning? Do you have family or friends who show up anyway and help out? Do you have enough to eat, a place to sleep? Do you have a computer and are you learning how to do Zoom meetings? How to learn via pod casts? How to use YouTube? Take some time today and find at least three things you are grateful for. Then think about these…and possibly more!...just before you go to sleep tonight.

Finally, as a part of our summer schedule, I invite anyone who is interested to submit a 300-800 article as a guest blogger. Here are the requirements:

• The content must be about dementia or dementia caregiving.
• Articles about LBD and LBD caregiving are preferable.
• Articles must not be sales vehicles for anything. I always delete any comments that are testimonials for herbal or drug cures. This goes for guest articles as well.
• You can discuss generally something that people might buy, for example, the “Intelligent” speakers that Amazon, Google and others sell. If you mention anything by name, you need to mention at least three, share what you like about each and provide references for all of them.
• I will proof the article and will usually make some changes to fit our format. I will always send it back to you for approval before I post it on the blog.
• I will always add a paragraph as introduction and often, I will add comments within the article that are clearly from me.

I hope I some of you will send me some articles!
Two weeks from today, we start another series of YouTubes by Pat Snyder. She has been doing many of these and had developed a good following. We are honored to have her as our guest YouTube blogger!

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia
Responsive Dementia Care: Fewer Behaviors Fewer Drugs
Lewy Body Dementia: A Manual for Staff

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.