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Sorry I didn’t continue sharing my Suite101 articles here. I kind of got sidetracked when I made a visit back home to meet my nieces when they were arranging to sell all the property– the home they grew up in, and the next-door (down the hill) home that their mother, my sister, and I grew up in. It was essentially my last visit back home, because the old homeplace doesn’t exist for us anymore as a place where we can meet. I guess this was what sparked my reminiscing through writing children’s picture books.
The first one, published in July, had to be “Little Girl Again” with the text being the poem by that title that I wrote about being my mother’s caregiver during her Alzheimer’s, around 30 years ago now.
Following close behind that first book, in August I wrote “Aunt Della’s Teacakes” about my Aunt Idella, my dad’s sister, who lived in the other side of our old farmhouse and also “Mama’s Quilts” from the poem by that title I had written about the quilts my mother made from old scraps of fabric cut from clothes we had worn in the past.
Then in September came “Daddy Farmer” about my hard-working farmer dad, and “Mama’s Biscuits” about my mother’s delicious baking and how that changed as she got older. October brought memories of “Picking Huckleberries on Ross Mountain” and “Flowers for Mama” which ended up with the purple flower I hold high in memory of her in the Alzheimer’s Association’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s.
I didn’t have much time at our November 1 Walk to read, but I was asked to speak during the opening ceremony, and I read all of “Little Girl Again” and then the last few pages of “Flowers for Mama”. It was my 28th consecutive year walking in memory of my mother.
In November I wrote “The Library Upstairs” about an old antique bookcase full of books upstairs in our old farmhouse, and I wrote “Mama Canned”, inspired by all the canning of fruits and vegetables on our farm that my parents had worked so hard on every summer and into the fall.
Then in December, it was “Christmas Past”, with the title from a poem I’d written, though I didn’t include the poem until the end and instead wrote a narrative describing our Christmases when I was growing up back home, 1955-1973 or so.
They all are available in paperback and Kindle eBook from Amazon and in hardback from Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and many other online bookstores. All royalties go to the Alzheimer’s Association through my Walk to End Alzheimer’s. Enjoy, and Happy New Year!
This article was originally published May 8, 2003 at Suite 101 when I was an Alzheimer’s disease topic editor for them.
The weather we are having in the Southeast and the recent earthquake here in Alabama have me thinking about my year as my mother’s caregiver. As always in this state, there were plenty of tornado warnings and watches, but we also had one unusual weather-related even when the destruction of Hurricane Opal came all the way up into north eastern Alabama where we were.
My mother slept through that night while I listened in bed to a small radio through earphones. I stayed awake all night as the wind whistled around the old farm house and downed trees all around. I kept thinking I needed to get my mother into a more central location in the house, but I didn’t want to waken her and risk the confusion that would be sure to result. So she and I both stayed in bed, and while I worried, she slept like a baby. Any other night she would have been up wandering through the house.
There’s a fine line between keeping an Alzheimer’s patient safe and keeping him or her calm during a storm. Yes, keep them safe, but try to minimize talking about the storm if possible. If the electricity goes out, they might even enjoy, as my mother seemed to, a return to the candles or oil lamps of their childhood. Even if the electricity remains on, they might find comfort in turning the lights and television off and enjoying candlelight. The old farmhouse with its minimal wiring often popped during an electrical storm, especially when I was a child. My mother turned off everything and unplugged the television, so I did this for her as well when she became my “child” to protect from the storm.
To take the minds of the caregiver and the patient alike off the storm, it might be a good time to tell a story or reminisce. If the lights remain on, it might be a good time to read to the patient. A fearful time can thus be transformed into a cozy and enjoyable story time.
Yes, do keep a source of news available and keep your patient in a safe area of the house. Or if they are sleeping as my mother was on the night of Opal, be ready to move them to a safer place if needed or even to a shelter if necessary. Always keep first aid supplies on hand, as well as bottled water, canned food, and candles in case you have to survive for a time without electricity.
A page at Alzheimer’s Outreach lists tips for Natural Disaster Safety. Among them include having a disaster plan, making neighbors aware of the AD patient’s special needs, and having the patient wear an identification bracelet, as well as keeping stocked with extra food, medicine, water, batteries and other necessities.
An article at About.com asks “Are You Prepared?” and lists twelve steps in creating a disaster plan which also includes taking first aide and CPR classes.
In “Disaster Migration for Persons with Disabilites” at UPC.org, this report discusses the need to have facilities equipped for the disabled in case moving to a shelter is necessary.
May we all be safe and spared tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disaster, but may we also be prepared to keep our Alzheimer’s patients as safe and calm as possible just in case.
References
“Are You Prepared?” Senior Health from About.com – http://seniorhealth.about.com/library/we…
“Disaster Migration for Persons with Disabilities” UPC.org – http://www.ucpa.org/ucp_channeldoc.cfm/1…
“Natural Disaster Safety” Alzheimer’s Outreach – http://www.zarcrom.com/users/alzheimers/…
Remembering My Mother & Alzheimer's .. 