In order to protect everyone's privacy, I cannot give out e-mail addresses without permission. I will write to Laura and Jay and ask them to contact you via your e-mail if that is okay with you. You do not have to write your e-mail address publicly on the boards. As administrator, I have it in the private administrator account.
Now I would like to welcome you to my website. As an EOAD spouse, I urge you to log onto the home page - www.thealzheimerspouse, and look on the left side of the website. Scroll down to the 4 EOAD sections. The first is full of videos and articles about EOAD. The second is the most comprehensive guide to EOAD that you will find anywhere. Everyone on this site who has read it has been impressed. The next two relate to teens of parent's with EOAD, if you have teens or college kids. You can also do a search at the top of this page. Put in EOAD, and check off "topics". About a dozen will come up. But first and foremost, check out that EOAD guide on the home page. Whoops. Just checked it and the link was broken. I fixed it, but you will have to refresh the home page to get it. If that doesn't work, restart your computer, go to the home page - www.thealzheimerspouse.com - and refresh it. If it doesn't work, let me know, but I just tried it and it's fine.
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.
Please be sure to log onto the home page - www.thealzheimerspouse.com - and read all of the resources on the left side. There is a great new section on informative videos. 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.
Again - welcome. We have many EOAD spouses here. Some are featured in the videos in the EOAD section I mentioned above.
Welcome katiemikaelian! As we often say, so sorry to had the need to find us, but so glad you're here. You will find yourself surrounded by love and support, and humor when needed. This is an amazing group of caregivers of all ages and in all stages. My husband is 62 and has FTD, I am 53. He is entering stage 5 of 6. There are many of us in our 50's. I honestly don't know how I would have come this far without group. I cannot imagine functioning without the support that I receive here. So welcome friend, you are in good hands. Arms around, Susan
This site is very helpful. My husband has FTD and is now 59 (he was 58 when diagnosed). I am 50. If you have any questions, ask them here. Someone usually will be able to help.
Welcome Katie--my husband has EOAD, dx at age 60. You are not alone--there are many of us here with spouses that have young onset dementias and can give you support and information. Glad you've found this resource.
Hello Katie ~ My husb too was diagnosed early (age 58) and he is now 64...I am 49. So glad you have come aboard and hope that you feel encouraged here! Everyone is always so kind and wonderful and witty...the humor of the board gets me through a lot of hard days...hope it will encourage and help you as well.
Hi & Welcome Katie, My husband too has FTD, he is 59 years old. He was just diagnosed in July of last year after many test over the past 6 years. Actually, started having memory problems at age 50. As others have said, I am glad you decided to join our group, I am sure you will find valuable information from kind people. I will bring up the Caregiver's Ages post.
Welcome, Katie. My husband was diagnosed with EOAD at age 60, will be 62 in Sept. I am 59, will be 60 in Oct. I really appreciate this site and I know that you will, too. Elena
Hi Katie and welcome. My husband has FTD (59) and was diagnosed in July 2008. I am 58. This is a wonderful site and will provide you with information, comfort and a virtual family who understands your situation, challenges and problems.
Thank you for your support I am 50 and my husband is 54 he was diagnosed at 53 - we are considering a research study for a new medication - does any one know of ACC-200 I don't know if the commitment will be worth it my husband wants nothing to do with it
I am so happy you responded - It is ironic but last week I took my husband on a vacation to Miami Beach. I of course had to make all of the travel arrangements. I was a little apprehensive to take a big vacation knowing that I would be responsible for getting us through airports and knew I could not leave his side at the hotel or he would surely get lost. Anyway here we are on vacation in Miami and I happen to pick up the Miami Herald and saw your story - I could not believe the coincidence - I read it a number of times and there were so many similarities to our story it was comforting to know someone else was going through the same thing. I absolutely loved when you said you don't have to know what day it is to be happy - so true - I kept the article and brought it home and showed it to my friends and family - I will keep it forever.
We live in Massachusetts - I am a teacher and will be going back to work next week that is when things are most difficult - I am so busy and my husband Chuck has so much time alone. We have two sons who are both in college. Chuck depends on me for his entertainment and at times I feel overwhelmed with trying to make him happy. He really has no friends or outside interests except for me. He does work around the yard and helps with the laundry and dishes but that is it - I try to get him to go to the gym but he will not go alone - it is not easy -
I also had to make the decision for him to apply for social security disability - we went through the process and of couse I had to do it all - after five months it was finally approved - what a relief - we had been living on my salary for almost two years that was not easy - it is not much but it helps.
Thank you so much for writing to me - I am sorry this is so long but I just feel like you can relate to all of this -
By the way we both love Florida so much and would love to relocate sometime and get away from the New England weather. We hope to vacation in Florida again soon.
Katie, You do not need to apologize for long post. I feel that is what this site is all about, where you can write out your true feelings, with no regret.
What part of Massachusetts? We lived in Mass. for over 30 years, before relocating to Florida. Best decision we ever made. I worked in the school system in Special Education for 25 years. Had many positions, but the last 11 years were as a speech/language therapist.
Have you taken Chuck to Massachusetts General Hospital? They have an excellent Memory Disorders Clinic there.
Don't worry about long posts. Sometimes it takes more than one section for members to write all they need. One suggestion - if it's going to be a long one, write it in a Word document first, and save it. Then you can copy and post it on the Message Boards. That saves the aggravation of being timed out and losing the whole thing.
You will find that we all understand and relate to one another.