Hi Olive, I started to welcome you under another discussion, then had to go to an appointment. Now that post is buried somewhere, so I made a new discussion so you wouldn't miss my official welcome.
Welcome to my website. You have come to a place of comfort for spouses who are trying to cope with the Alzheimer's/dementia of their husband/wife. The issues we face in dealing with a spouse with this disease are so different from the issues faced by children and grandchildren caregivers. We discuss all of those issues here - loss of intimacy; social contact; conversation; anger; resentment; stress; and pain of living with the stranger that Alzheimer's Disease has put in place of our beloved spouse.
The message boards are only part of this website. Please be sure to log onto the home page - www.thealzheimerspouse.com - and read all of the resources on the left side. I recommend starting with "Newly Diagnosed/New Member" and "Understanding the Dementia Experience". There are 3 sections for EOAD members - two of which focus on the young teens whose parents have EOAD (early onset AD). Also, check the "Message Board Guidelines" discussion at the top of the page. It should answer some questions you have about using the boards. Do not miss the "previous blog" section. It is there you will find a huge array of topics with which you can relate. Log onto the home page daily for new blogs; news updates; important information.
Joan, Love the site.....thanks so much. I have tried to get the "Understanding......" article twice, but get an error msg. that it 'timed out'. What stupid thing am I doing? Help!
It is in Adobe format. Do you have Adobe? If you don't, you can just go to the Adobe website and download it for free.
Generally a "timed out" error msg. means that your Internet service was too slow to download it. It is 28 pages long. If you can't get it, e-mail me, and I'll copy it and e-mail it to you.
Joan, I do have Adobe (v.5 I think), but the wireless connection on this laptop is plugged into a lower speed port (don't have a hi-speed one), so I will try again on my desktop, which is directly connected to the u verse modem.
Joan, Well, that didn't work.....for some reason windows can't find Adobe in the system, even though I can display the files on my c drive. Go figure. Anyway, I give up....its too much to read anyway (28 pages - whew!).
texasjoe, what you're looking for is a pdf reader, adobe reader or many others. Adobe makes theirs available on their website; if you just go to http://www.adobe.com you'll see a button saying Adobe Reader on the righthand side. (pdf stands for personal document format, meaning nothing except that almost any computer can read it, or any "smart phone.")
Don't be discouraged by the 28 pages, you don't have to print it off and read it all at once. But you can do searches on things you want to find out about in it. And it's really the way that all kinds of information is shared over the internet, so you should have it on your computer.
That article, above almost anything else any of use have found, is useful in understanding your spouse and the way she behaves.
Go to the home page - www.thealzheimerspouse.com. Look to the left side, and click on "previous blogs". Read the very first blog - The Welcome Blog. That tells the why and how of this website's beginnings.