Alzheimer's Blogging:

So how was your Thanksgiving?  Although we are given this gift from God, a thing called life and we live it everyday, it seems like the Holidays we try and make it special.  Some of us live far away from loved ones and we try to visit them during this holiday time.  Thanksgiving seems to be the time for togetherness with meals and great deserts. It is a time that friends and relatives try and go out of there way to see each other. If you have a loved one in the house with Dementia/ Alzheimer's you know that this can be a very difficult time for them.  With their memory loss it is difficult for them to relate and communicate.

I remember a few years ago when we were planning on leaving Chicago and move with my father in law to Phoenix. We had a Christmas party. My father in law stood in the corner of the room, watching, waiting, smiling but not really wanting to participate. He may have recognized some of the faces and  yes he should have known all of them. But due to his memory loss  he was frightened. The house was noisy and lots of food sat on the table.

My children watched him, and one of them came up with an idea to get him involved.  They put karaoke on the TV set with music from the 60's and it didn't take long before he was dancing to it while they sang.  He was now participating with the group and enjoying himself.

My father in law is now long gone and all I have left is his memory in my heart and pictures on walls. He was a great man who taught us a lot about love and life.

This year I celebrated Thanksgiving with my husband, my five children and four of them have husbands who joined us along with my seven grandchildren. It was a wonderful time of food and games. This is what I love about the holidays, the get togethers.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving,
Sincerely,
Marie Fostino
Alzheimer's A Caretakers Journal
www.mariefostino.com
PS:   I have written a couple of romance books if anyone is interested:
The Silver Locket
http://www.amazon.com/The-Silver-Locket-ebook/dp/B005R6Q3D0/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322419189&sr=1-1
A Struggle of the Heart
http://www.amazon.com/Struggle-Heart-ebook/dp/B0067T6O30/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322419239&sr=1-1

Alzheimer's Blogging:

In my younger years as a young mother I got a job as a nursing assistant. Back in the day we didn't really go to school for this. We were actually taught at the nursing home where we were taking the job and we had classes there for about 3 or 4 weeks. We would than take a test and than work for a week with a preceptor before we were on our own. One of the things they taught me and I still have imprinted in my brain was how to bath the elderly person. They have something called  bath blankets and we would cover the person with the blanket after undressing them, and than move only the part we were washing to  expose. The blanket was suppose to get wet. We would expose little bits of body at a time and recover before exposing another part of the body.  After cleaning our patient we would get a dry bath blanket and recover them to warm them up. Makes sense doesn't it?  Well today on Alzheimer's Weekly I saw a wonderful video on how to bath the  dementia patient. I want to share it with you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxwJgDg3bYU&feature=player_embedded

It is important to let the person you are bathing have their respect and not to make them feel  uncomfortable while getting bathed.  I hope this video helps you. I fell in love with it when I watched it.

Sincerely,
Marie Fostino
Alzheimer's A Caretakers Journal
Seaboard Press An Imprint of James A Rock Pub., Co.
http://www.mariefostino.com/
http://www.mariefostino.blogspot.com/
http://www.amazon.com/The-Silver-Locket-ebook/dp/B005R6Q3D0/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321024984&sr=1-1

Alzheimer's Blogging:

From Alzheimer's Weekly Magazine:


"The Notebook" is a beautiful film about a couple deeply in love. The film switches scenes between two seasons in their lives. We see them in the urgency of young romance, and then we see them disappearing into the shadows of Alzheimer's, steadfast in their love.

It is his custom every day to read to her from a notebook that tells the story of how they met and fell in love and overcame the obstacles to their happiness.

Watch this collage of moving scenes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeV9KwGF5t0&feature=player_embedded


I love the novels of Nicholas Sparks and this one was one of his best.

Alzheimer's is such a terrible disease. Can we still love the  person with Alzheimer's even when they don't remember us? Can we still love the person with Alzheimer's when they go through the mean stage, when they hit and bite because they don't know better. Can we still love the person with Alzheimer's  when they reach the stage of a baby and you have to totally take care of them with out any acknowledgement that they appreciate what you are doing?  This is just thoughts for your mind. Only you can answer them. For me, I hope the answer is yes if this happens to my husband.

Sincerely,
Marie Fostino
Alzheimer's A Caretakers Journal
Seaboard Press An Imprint of James A Rock Pub., Co.
http://www.mariefostino.com/
http://www.mariefostino.blogspot.com/
http://www.amazon.com/The-Silver-Locket-ebook/dp/B005R6Q3D0/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320789784&sr=1-1

Alzheimer's Blogging:

I love getting Alzheimer's Weekly on line magazine. Even though I don't have my father in law around anymore to take care of I can still keep in touch with this magazine. I still pick up patients in my ambulance with this disease, which are my favorite patients and I feel so blessed that I am the one to take them to the hospital. I was just reading and listening to this video about a group called The Unforgettables. They have a concert coming up and they say dementia  benefits from this music therapy.  Check this out. http://alzheimersweekly.com/ and look under the heading of Unforgettable Alzheimer's Dementia Choir.


I do remember one time when I had a Christmas party for my father in law before we took him out of Illinois. We had all the relatives over and my children decided to  put on karaoke. My father in law  danced to the music as my girls sang the tunes. We all had such fun. But the best part was it seemed like dad fit in at that time just having fun with everyone. Before that it looked like he was lost with all the people walking around, eating food and just talking. He couldn't understand all that they were saying so he could not really join the conversation. He just sat in a chair and watched everyone. But boy did he come to life when the music came on.

Sincerely,
Marie Fostino
Alzheimer's A Caretakers Journal
Seaboard Press an Imprint of James A Rock Pub., Co.
http://www.mariefostino.com/
http://www.mariefostino.blogspot.com/
http://www.amazon.com/The-Silver-Locket-ebook/dp/B005R6Q3D0/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320466075&sr=1-1