Demented Tantrums
I can usually tell when mom is a little more hyper than usual…… her energy to me feels scattered, like tiny shiny molecules all jumbled up. This vibe makes me anxious. We arrived. She sat. I read. 5...
View ArticleGag Reflex
Good news. I discovered something new about myself. Poop makes me gag. I’m OK with cat poop and I’ve never really experienced baby poop—although, I imagine that mothers have some built-in mechanism to...
View ArticleMy Mom Eats Raw Chicken. Quit Complaining About Your Life.
Keeping mom at home is becoming increasingly difficult and stressful. I’ve found a home that I think will be a good fit — as good as they get. It has a solid reputation both locally and nationally....
View ArticlePart One… The Beginning of the End
Life with my demented mom was proceeding rather smoothly in recent days………………. by smoothly, I mean mostly bumpy, lots of twists and turns, blind spots and a few “watch for falling rocks” signs dotting...
View ArticlePart Two… Behaviors Vs. Behaviors
Almost anyone dying from dementia suffers from behaviors. Behaviors are simply part of the game when it comes to this disease… BUT, there are “behaviors” and then there are “behaviors….” something no...
View ArticleThe New York Times and Frontotemporal Dementia … A Must Read
An article, which appeared in The New York Times, about a wife and her husband who has Frontotemporal dementia really hit home with me……. I wish this article came out five or six years ago…… For me,...
View ArticleThe Good News: You’re Going to Die. The Bad News: Death Has Bad Breath & If...
If you’re reading this blog because you have a parent dying from Frontotemporal dementia, I have bad news: things are going to get worse. That is a fact. No point in sugar coating the truth, right?...
View ArticleMy Morning With Mom… A Composite
My mom isn’t yelling much. This is a new development. It wasn’t long ago that she would howl when I would walk into her room. “Shhhhh. It’s OK. Shhhhh. I’m here. Shhhhh.” She’d turn her head, look at...
View ArticleBenjamin Button Effect: What Do You Do When Your Mom Cries Out Like a Baby?
It was around 8pm last night when I started watching some of the videos I had taken of my mom. In the more recent ones, she is yelling — a lot. That’s all she can do. She can’t talk. I take these...
View ArticleGoing to the Funeral is the Easy Part
The other day, my friend Gary posted an NPR “All Things Considered” interview with a woman named Deirdre Sullivan to his Facebook wall. The gist of the interview was the importance of going to the...
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