JOAN’S BLOG – WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2008 - THEALZHEIMERSPOUSE.COM - HAPPY 6 MONTH ANNIVERSARY – HOW FAR WE HAVE COME.

I cannot believe it has been 6 months since I launched www.thealzheimerspouse.com.  And what a 6 months it has been! Your support has made this site successful beyond my wildest dreams. Along the way, we have shared ideas, information, and most important, support for one another.

It was my shock and confusion at the havoc Alzheimer’s Disease was wreaking on my marriage, and my pain and guilt relating to all of my mixed emotions concerning that upheaval,  that spurred me on to start this site. I thought – “It cannot just be me. It cannot. Other spouses must be feeling as hurt, bewildered, frightened, and alone as I am.”

“Why is this never discussed?”, I wondered. I researched books, newspaper andmagazine articles, television news programs, and I found………..NOTHING………..nothing but smiling spouses standing in the background, while the AD spouse was being interviewed about their memory loss.

So I took a chance. I took all of my writings (that I was doing in the middle of the night when my stress level would not allow me to sleep), and I turned them into a website. And spouses responded. You were out there, suffering in silence, as I had been. You validated my thoughts and emotions, and in the process reached out in loving support of one another.

It has become my mission to spread the word to AD spouses everywhere that they are NOT ALONE in their conflicting emotions, loneliness, pain, and grief in watching their life-long love slowly fade away before their eyes.

As we celebrate the first 6 months of my mission, let me share with you the exciting plans for the next 6 months:

• My Internet Radio Debut on February 23rd.  Stay tuned for details.
• Daily bulletins on the website concerning the latest in Alzheimer news
• A Monthly Internet Newsletter – in the planning stages
• Public Speaking at conferences – e-mail me if you would like me to speak at your event.
• Partnership with Amazon.com – your participation will allow me to keep this website alive.
• A book is in the planning stages.

My gratitude to all of you who have helped make this site such a worthwhile endeavor.

This Blog would not be complete without all my love and thanks going out to my San Francisco son, Joel, without whom none of this would have been possible. I had the idea; I had the writing. I had ZERO website technology knowledge. Within one day of me telling him about it, he e-mailed me a template for the website. The next thing I knew, he sent me the web design software, and for the first 3 months, he did 90% of the technological work. Now, 6 months later, he has taught me more than I ever thought I could learn, but he still works behind the scenes to do what I have not yet been able to master. Thank you - you are making up BIG TIME for the teenage years!

Feedback to joan@thealzheimerspouse.com