Caregiver Mastermind

While caring for my mother Lillie, I, arranged, planned, created, coordinated my mother's care and mine.  When my mother first got sick, I had never even heard of the word caregiver. As my mother’s disease progressed, I joined several Alzheimer’s caregivers support groups and found out my new title was Primary Caregiver.  I felt like I was managing a company while I was care giving.  As said above I planned doctor’s appointments, hair appointments and outdoor activities for the both of us.  I created a care plan for all of us paid caregivers and my wonderful volunteers.

When you are caregiving, you experience many emotions during a day because of the stress that comes along with caregiving. In my estimation all caregivers are masterminds, they put a system together for the welfare of their loved ones and if the caregiving situations change, they make the necessary changes. Caregivers supervise their hired caregiver employees.  They hatch up schemes to get their loved one to cooperate with them. I hatched up schemes to get my mother to take her medicine. 

I created a plan that would keep my mother comfortable and as healthy as possible to keep myself sane. 

As I look back on those 10 years of caring for my mother, I see myself as a stronger individual and a happy person because I did care for my mother.  As an advocate and veteran caregiver, I would say to caregivers do not be hard on yourself.  Set a goal for yourself have a goal in mind at the end of your caregiving journey you will be healthy and ready to start your new chapter in like. When you need help call someone from your support group or your doctor do not feel that you are bugging people when you ask questions. 

Use of the resources that are available to you.

1.  Department of Human Services

2.  Department of Health

3.  Department of Aging

Alzheimer’s Caregivers Absolutely perform like Jugglers!

Caregivers are the jugglers, sometimes caregivers juggle five caregiving demands at one time and we are not doing the juggling as an act of entertainment we are organizing our loved one’s life Yes, we are also sprinters, we run from one room to another making sure everything is in the right place so there loved one won’t fall and hurt themselves, and from appointment to appointment with our loved ones. Caregivers could be likened to magicians; we can make a meal so fast sometimes you would think it was magic. We are individuals who have chosen to care for our loved ones with dementia/Alzheimer’s disease in our homes and create the best life for our loved ones as possible. When my mother got sick, I was devasted I had no idea how I was going to become a Primary Caregiver, with time, Alzheimer’s support groups and therapist I made it through. Caregivers are on stage from the time they get up until the time they lay down to sleep and most of them are sleeping with one eye open and both ears listening for their loved one. Caregivers do a lot of adjusting and adapting during the day. It usually depends on the mood their loved one is in. If you loved one seems to be in a good mood and playful then we get out puzzles, music or even take them out that day. When my mom was playful, we looked at family photos on the front porch and let the dogs visit with us sometime. Caregivers must be agile. I loved looking back and thinking about those ten years of caregiving. I wonder in many cases if I had made the best decisions for my mom or should I have done something other than what I did. This is one reason I enjoy sharing my personal stories of caregiving for my mother Lillie. Hopefully they will encourage other caregivers. As my mother's advocate and representative, I would recommend that you always think things through before you make a final decision for your loved one. Check with all the resources in your area they may be helpful.