Four Ways Hope Can Help See You Through Dementia Caregiving This Year

My thoughts and prayers are with you as you now care for your mother with AD...I am also caring for my 87 yr old mom with early onset AD, she lives at my home with my husband and me and at times it can be challenging.Some days are better than others but hopefully she is happy here and I believe I can take better care of her than anyone else. I want her be feel safe and loved as she experiences this decline in her health and independence. I look at it this way, she loved and nurtured me when I was young, now it is my turn to do the same for her and make whatever time she has on this early pleasant and happy.

After almost 15 years of caregiving, first my father with AD who died in a nursing home and now taking care of my 89 yr old mother with AD (at home), I have seen a lot of "take this it helps" and "do this it helps" over the years that did nothing. I even question the use of expensive drugs like Aricept for people into their 80s. I never think about the idea of hope. I think about making the most of their life that I can, making both my parents safe and confortable and the best it can be with what we have. My mother is happy at home and well taken care of even though she can't do much. Most people do not age into their 80s without having some serious health issues. It would be nice to hope that this didn't happen, but it does. AD is one of those nasty diseases that we all wish didn't exist. My hope is that some day there is help for long term illness, of every kind.