Far too many people face #caregiving alone. Family who ought to have been supportive, somehow don't help, don't engage, don't acknowledge, don't thank, and don't apologize. They shirk, they hide, they evade, they deny, they blame.
"The public is desperate to hear the truth from real experts about the state of #Trumps cognitive health. Don’t they deserve that? Esp, when all of our lives may depend on it. As people of conscience, we are defying this absurd professional gag order, to speak the truth about Trump’s probable #dementia before it’s too late."
Thank you #ChauncyDeVega for this coverage & thank you #Dr.JohnGartner for bravely speaking out. Yes, our lives may depend on it.
@amyedge. Totally agree! He is doing such important work with this series on #Trump's #cognitive deterioration.
As one of the people interviewed says (I'm paraphrasing), anyone who has been with someone with #dementia knows what is happening. And now me: that the media is not covering this 24/7 is scandalous. Or as #Dr.Gartner says, "Not enough people are sounding the alarm, that based on his behavior, and in my opinion, Donald Trump is dangerously demented."
1/2
2024-03-25 1am
Never mind that pieces of the house are coming detached
that holes have appeared in the brick
in the plaster
water seeping in
Never mind the loose and missing insulation
the gaps through which mice and ants and crickets squeak in, file in, hop in
making themselves at home or at least busy
Never mind my unrest, the piles of mail unopened
emails unanswered
calls unreturned ...
2/2
The roof holds
the stove lights
the toilets flush
the ducts expand and contract with the flow of warm air
the house breathes, hums, a cocoon, sheltering
Mom sleeps, or doesn't sleep, quietly
dreaming, or not dreaming,
articulating or not an explanation to a man
she knows, well, but cannot name
when startled out of her not sleep, not dream
#Alzheimer's (and #dementia, more broadly) is a crisis for a) the person w/it, b) for the people who love the person w/it, and c) for the society that supports neither a nor b.
"Our population is aging, so we really need to address these issues," said Sam Fazio, the Alzheimer Association's senior director of quality care and psychosocial research. "Alzheimer's disease remains a significant public health crisis."
Remembering the #Congresspeople who blocked #Biden's plan to help #caregivers. "Families & other caregivers take on an array of tasks, scheduling appts & feeding & caring for people w/#Alzheimer's or #dementia. The report said 11.5 million relatives & caregivers provided more than 18 million hours of unpaid care last year. That amounted to a full-time job for caregivers who spent an avg. of nearly 31 hours a week caring for a person w/Alzheimer's or dementia."
March 20, 2024. I’ve been reading anecdotal Covid related posts since 2020 and they don’t seem to be getting any milder or better. I can’t imagine where we’ll be in just a few years from now. 🤷♂️ It’s a slow outta-control COVID train wreck that no one wants to talk about…
As carers, we make an enormous number of decisions daily. None are small, easy, trivial. Each feels weighty and some may feel paralyzing because we recognize how they add up in quality of life for those we support.
As carers, we know that bad or terrible days may outnumber good days. We treasure good days when we make no mistakes, maintain our empathy, support our loved ones in the way they want, need, and deserve, and find time for self-care.