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Inspiring Voices - W. Hoag Stephen

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71 pages

English

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A Sons Handbook is the ten-year journey of a son as he cared for his mother with Alzheimers disease and dementia. Compelled by the love for his mother, author Stephen W. Hoag provides a tender, dramatic and often humorous account of the unforgettable years he shared with his mother as they faced the difficulties associated with her disease. His chronicled anecdotes and articulated moments will bring comfort to family members and care givers who must complete the daily tasks and overcome the obstacles accompanying the care of those afflicted with this illness.There are approximately five million Americans who suffer from Alzheimers and dementia and the vast majority of these people rely on family members - particularly sons and daughters - for their care. There is no vaccine or procedure that will cure this disease that first takes the mind and then takes the body. Our only weapon against its ravages is love. To be sure, one of the greatest manifestations and demonstrations of love that a person may experience in life is the caring for a parent with this infirmity.Each experience described in this personal account led Stephen Hoag to write a Sons Rule at the end of each chapter, a fitting approach to being forever positive and insightful in moments of great challenge.

Sujets

Assertiveness

Humour

Informations

Publié par	Inspiring Voices
Date de parution	09 janvier 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781462408429
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0240€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

A Son’s HANDBOOK

Bringing Up Mom with Alzheimer’s/Dementia

Stephen W. Hoag, Ph.D.

Copyright © 2014 Stephen W. Hoag, Ph.D.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Inspiring Voices books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

Inspiring Voices
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.inspiringvoices.com
1 (866) 697-5313

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4624-0841-2 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4624-0842-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013921854

Inspiring Voices rev. date: 01/07/2014

Contents
Acknowledgments
Not in the Son’s Handbook
Chapter 1 Suddenly
Chapter 2 Curtain Going Up: Alzheimer’s/Dementia
Chapter 3 Life as You Know It Is Over
Chapter 4 The Beauty Parlor
Chapter 5 You Were Always the Homely One
Chapter 6 Sing, Stevie, Sing
Chapter 7 The Case of the Stolen Wine Glasses
Chapter 8 Bath Time for Bertha
Chapter 9 Bert Alert
Chapter 10 “What’s My Name?”
Chapter 11 Appointment with Yesterday
Chapter 12 Schtooped
Chapter 13 The Gold Shoes
Chapter 14 The Little Room … Where Memories Were Stored
Chapter 15 I Can Talk for Myself … the Oldest Living Call Girl
Chapter 16 A Date with Ralphie
Chapter 17 No Giving Up
Chapter 18 The “I Love You” Moment
About the Author
Author’s Note

This book is dedicated to my mother, Bertha E. Hoag.

Acknowledgments
There are many people who touched our lives during Mom’s lifetime who directly, indirectly, or inadvertently made the events of the last ten years of Mom’s life just a little better.
To my loving wife, Gina, thank you for all the late nights, early mornings, and “Bert Alerts” that we shared with Mom. To my daughters, Maureen and Kathleen, thanks for always saying yes when we needed you.
There are not enough appropriate words of appreciation to describe the encouragement of Patrick Saty, the first to demand that I write so others might be helped.
In the final years of Mom’s life, there were many doctors who cared for her while allowing her to express herself in song and dance in their respective places of service. We especially wish to express our appreciation to Dr. Richard Wein, Dr. Gary Tansino, and Dr. Robert Biondino.
Special expression of love to Tommy, my brother, who worked through his own struggles during Mom’s last ten years. He was always there doing everything he could to love and care for our mother.
To my loving colleagues June, Lori, Judy, Diane, Lee, Harold, Harriet, and Charlene, who often witnessed my dashes for the door to get to Mom’s side; heard my pleadings on the telephone in conversations with mother; and saw the tears in my eyes that I tried so hard to hide, God bless you.
It the final few years of Mom’s life we needed the assistance of a woman of strength, character, and compassion to meet the mounting challenges of Mother’s declining condition. Chelsea Schultz was part of many moments articulated in this book, but most importantly, someone who always gave unselfishly of herself to Mom, my brother, and our entire family.

Introduction
Not in the Son’s Handbook
As with all things regarding Mom, there was music. The anecdotes, stories, and lessons learned and contained in these pages would best make Mom happy if put to music, and in some fashion, they have been.
My mother was born Bertha Ethel Bever on December 23, 1914, in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, the second youngest of eight sisters and one older brother. She was known by her friends and family as Bokie or Bert. To me, she was just Mom.
I am Stephen (Stevie, as Mom called me), the younger of Bertha’s two sons. Tommy, Bertha’s oldest son and my brother, is a quiet, honest guy who is mentally retarded and often emotionally fragile. Joe, Bertha’s husband of fifty-two years and my father, was a difficult man to cope with and understand. Dad was often intimidating and violent and, like Mom very musically talented.
When I was a child, my mom was my best friend, teacher, and confidant. As I stepped out of our home and into the world to achieve some victories and absorb some failures, Mom and I grew distant, as some parents and children do.
When Dad died, Mom and Tommy became my responsibility. In the cyclical fashion of life, Mom was mine to love and care for, almost as she had done for me as a young boy. You see, Mom lived the last dozen years of her life with Alzheimer’s disease/dementia, and I shared the last ten years meeting the challenges of this disease with her.
Despite the endless string of pamphlets, medical journals, websites, and bookstore offerings, there was no handbook for sons on how to take care of a mother with Alzheimer’s/dementia. Generally speaking, there is no how-to or operations manual for sons in general. There are how-to books on gardening, home repairs, hitting a baseball, and for virtually every topic one can name. How is it no one has written one on being a son of someone dealing with this disease?
However, there is an implied how-to manual for sons. Although not written down anywhere, it is the fusion of all the rules and routines that parents impart to us. Generally included are such standards as brushing your teeth, washing your face and hands, kissing your aunt, shaking your uncle’s hand, not fighting with your brother, doing all your homework, taking out the trash, and walking the dog. But nowhere in that implied son’s handbook is there a chapter on what to do when your mother or father is stricken with Alzheimer’s disease/dementia, and you as the son must take care of him or her.
This narrative represents the synthesis of ten years and thousands of pages of a daily chronicle I wrote when Mom became the most important responsibility in my life. With great prayer, my writing allowed me to navigate the mental, emotional, and physical challenges of this disease on my mother and me. These brief chapters offer no clinical or medical advice. That remains the domain of trained medical professionals. Rather, this narrative focuses on common issues relative to Alzheimer’s/dementia that we as sons and daughters are compelled to address every moment of every day, armed with nothing more than what our parents and God have given us: our love.
With each entry, I asked God to impart a lesson to me. With the tug on my heart and the greater damage dementia brought to my mother, I needed to learn how to meet all her needs. To be sure, I didn’t care for my mother alone, but sitting in the decision-making chair was just me. Each day during a quiet moment I wrote down what I saw, how I responded, and what worked and what didn’t. I sure made a lot of mistakes. Many evenings I sat at Mom’s beside with my pad on my lap and wrote every word she uttered. I recorded her expressions and my feelings as clearly as I could. My chronicle sometimes looked like an exercise in the Cornell note-taking system because I wanted to be a better son, a better man than I was.
With my “suddenly” moment with Mother regarding the first salvo of Alzheimer’s/dementia against my limited frame of reference, I realize d I wasn’t prepared. The reality that I was inadequate to correctly address Mom’s uncontrollable bodily functions, dramatic mood swings, and fantasy melodramas mixed with the basics of her daily care sometimes overwhelmed me. The only constant and bastion of strength was my knowing that God had this whole situation in control. I was exactly where God wanted me, doing precisely what He required me to do. My daily writing was my way of connecting all the pieces of my life that were changed due to Mother’s Alzheimer’s/dementia.
At the end of most chapters is a “Son’s Rule.” Each represents a lesson I learned that day so I might approach the next hour or the next dementia-generated challenge as a better son. God is always talking to us, especially in times of great tribulation, and He uses an endless number of methods and vehicles by which to communicate with and teach us all we need to know to meet the imminent task. I wasn’t good enough to take care of my mother alone, and I knew it. But by the grace of God; my loving wife, Gina; my incredible daughters Maureen and Kathleen; my brother, Tommy; Companions & Homemakers, the Connecticut Agency on Aging; and Chelsea Schultz, Mom and I put on a great performance.

Chapter 1
Suddenly
With each passing day we seem to be confronted with a steady stream of “all-of-a-suddens.” All of a sudden I slipped on the ice. All of a sudden the car came from out of nowhere. All of a sudden the cell phone went dead. All of a sudden I felt sick to my stomach. However, there is no more dramatic all-of-a-sudden moment than when you realize the care of a parent is all yours.
For me it occurred on June 23, 2002, when I went to the hospital to see my father,