Reflections
Accept that the diagnosis, with all its implications, will have a profound impact on your marriage, relationship, or friendship. A diagnosis of Alzheimer's, or any form of dementia, marks a dramatic passage for everyone and naturally brings up strong, unpredictable feelings.
Suggestions
Develop a care plan for the immediate future--perhaps the first six months--because with this illness, circumstances keep changing and the care plan will need to evolve in response. Create a plan that addresses the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs of the patient.
Besides the practical advantages of developing a care plan, you can have a strategic discussion about how you hope to handle this illness. What hopes, attitudes, and convictions might you bring to the situation? Are there intentions you could set? Two words that guided us were consciously and lovingly.
Seed Thought
May I remember the positive things that uplift us.
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About Me
- Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle
- Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle is a writer, therapist, and teacher. She taught at the Mind/Body Medical Institute, affiliated with Beth Israel and Deaconess Hospitals, where she pioneered how to bring meditation, yoga, and cognitive therapy into the medical domain to treat stress-related and chronic illness. She helped to develop one of the first training programs in Mind/Body medicine in the country and trained health professionals through Harvard Medical School. Her teaching and training are inspired by over thirty years of practice in psychology, Buddhist meditation, and the wisdom traditions.
1 comment:
Dear Olivia,
Thank you for your thougths and especially for the Seed Thoughts. Very helpful. I am at present in the middle of a 7 week stay as my mother's caregiver. While not an Alzheimer's patient per se, she is 93, mostly deaf, mostly blind and has some dementia.
My sister, brother and I rotate in as caregivers, from various places far and near, so that she can stay in her own home for as long as possible. I find that it takes me a week or so each trip to let go of my "other life" and become present in this one with her.
Your book was so helpful and I have passed it on to others who are facing this. It's the most uplifting resource I've found to date. Surprizing and beautiful.
I've written some of my experiences with Mom, happy to share them here or with you via email.
Blessings,
Helen
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