Alzheimer's Advocacy trip to DC 2013

This past week, I was extremely fortunate to be part of 900 Alzheimer's Advocates who traveled from all over the country to DC to speak to our Congress Members and Senators on the impact of Alzheimer's has on the patients, loved ones and our Nation.  It was an experience that I feel any Caregiver out there should participate, although it might be very hard to be apart from the person who are taking care of, our Politicians need to hear our stories we are their Constituents after all.  Some might be more receptive than others and be willing to hear your story and others might just want the facts.

I was able to meet some amazing people with their own stories of Alzheimer's and how they managed to be a Caregiver and juggle life and knowing that I am not alone in this journey.  New friendships were made on this trip and listening to the amazing speakers we had and what they are doing for a world without Alzheimer's was inspirational.

I was also blessed to have met Glen Campbell and have a picture taken with him, I have loved his music ever since I was child and to have met him in person is a feeling I hold dear to my heart always.  To see this debilitating disease take a man I have only heard on the radio away from the talent he was given was hard to see and to realize that my Mom is not too far behind him in the stages of Alzheimer's made me extremely emotional and broke down in my hotel room wishing to be home to hold my Mom but knew she was in good hands with my Sister and Niece.

Below is a picture of part of our group who had the honor to meet with Congressman Dana Rohrabacher.

Finding the sense of humor in Alz

As my Mom and I were going to my Sister’s place to drop something off, she sometimes gets a bit nervous and thinks I’m going to be dropping her off and going somewhere without her even though we have only done that twice and it was for me to go be gone a couple of hours. So I always tell her the same funny story so she can laugh, I tell her about when my Niece’s friend bought a new car and went to show it off and as they were leaving he was backing up and he went over a speed bump and he thought he had run over someone or something. Mom always laughs really hard and says how silly he is. So that day was no different I told her the same story, we did what we needed to do and left, then I got a call from my Niece that I forgot something so we turned back around being just 5 minutes away and I told her the same story again as we are pulling in and she turns to me in a very upset tone of voice and says, “Just because I have memory loss doesn’t mean I forget things.” Yeah, that took me a little bit to get and I tried not to break out laughing thinking okay now that’s an oxy-moron. Of course I didn’t laugh since that would make her more upset, I just tried to remain serious and do what we needed to do.

I’ve been going back to this a lot thinking of what she must be feeling when I “try” to make things easier for her and at times maybe I’m doing more harm than good especially on those moments she is more lucid than other moments. Trying to do the best sometimes can backfire and I have to just swallow it and hope for the best next time.

Finding ways to eat

Eating is a more of a challenge everyday and finding imaginative ways for my Mom to eat is always welcomed.

My Niece Lexy has an incredible way with her Abuelita and use to be able to get her to do anything but lately it's been more difficult for the exception of today. She was able to get her up and dressed and at a local restaurant she played with her to get her to eat her food plus try some of the mushrooms from Lexy's plate and it was very playful and cute (see pictures attached)

The Washing Hair Dilemma

As my Mom's disease keeps progressing getting her to wash her hair has become more of a challenge and have been made aware that her hair is well...stinky so I've been wanting to purchase dry shampoo but as a Full time Caregiver funds can be limited so I was so excited to see on groupon.com this morning that they are offering two bottles for $9 so I took advantage of that. Below is the link if you are interested. I'm going to tell my Mom that it is a special lotion to make her hair grow thicker since she has fine hair and always wanted thicker hair, let's hope for the best.

http://www.groupon.com/deals/gg-cortex-international-dry-shampoo?utm_campaign=UserReferral&utm_medium=email&utm_source=uu44505474

Tips for Thanksgiving

In past years we used to get together with lots of family members, being latinos you know that can get large.  We have started to just be my sister her kids, my Dad and myself because it's less distracting for my Mom.

I just read this article and wish I would have read this article years ago, hope this helps someone out:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/20/health/dementia-alzheimer-thanksgiving/index.html

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

A Caregivers job doesn't end at 5pm

A Caregivers job doesn't end after 8 hours, I was looking forward to my pjs, hot chocolate and football game. At least they didn't think I was the sick one this time, she is so adorable even when she's not feeling all well

The Flu Season is Upon Us

As we have entered flu season I made sure my Mom got her flu shot and this year I remembered to get mine too. Since I always seem to get the flu or pneumonia and even H1n1 one year i prepared myself with a emergency bag.

Since everyone has their own lives I can't expect for people to drop what they are doing to take care of me when I get sick so in my bag I put couple of bottles of gaterode, cans of chicken soups, crackers, extra bags and keep it near the stairs so I don't forget when I end up sick I also added some soup for my Mom that she likes so it will be easier for me to hear up when I'm not feeling well