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    • CommentAuthorJan K
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2015
     
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp9JZrCrrQY "Norway's Atlantic Road" - the video is only about three minutes long

    Watching this video, the scenery and the music made me think of the caregiver journey. I guess even on this road, the sun does sometimes come out from behind the clouds. But on some days, at least to me, this is what being a caregiver feels like.

    Please tell me what you think. (Besides that my therapist needs to step up the therapy!)
  1.  
    Jan K, this video does indeed capture the journey what we are all going on. For me it compares very well to the emotional upheaval that was going on inside of me, the unpredictability of my feelings on a daily basis as he progressed to the end of his life. I feel it is almost impossible to put into words this journey which is why it is so difficult to explain to people when they ask me how I am doing. Yes there was some sunshine but not a lot and I was so busy that when there was sunshine I could not really enjoy it. I am traveling the grief journey of his death now and I can encourage all of you who are not quite there that it will be here perhaps sooner than you think. I know I felt like it would never end but it does and it did. The grief journey is in itself unique to each person but for me while not pleasant it is manageable and not having the constant worries of placement, visits, calls from the nursing home and on and on are definitely a blessings. Once the caregiving is over one is left with a huge void inside that hospice tells me will never completely be filled but one can live with it and function and find joy again. For those of you who are still walking in the disease, be strong, breathe, take one day at a time. You are doing the best you can and soon it will be easier for you. The alz journey I think can be compared to running a marathon. One must pace themselves, eat and drink, rest, and above all be as kind to yourself as you possibly can. The pacing is so important because one must be vigilant with how much energy you are using up in the caregiving. If the caregiver does not pace themselves illness will undoubtedly set in and that is the last thing we need. Thanks again, Jan, for sharing this.
    • CommentAuthormyrtle*
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2015
     
    A beautiful video. It captures some of the desolation I have felt all these years.

    But it differs from my experience in that it depicts something that is short - both the 3-minute video and the road, which according to Wikipedia is 5.2 miles long. It also depicts a something that is thrilling and has a bleak beauty, which is definitely not true of my experience as an AD spouse. BTW, the Atlantic Road has been described in the Guardian as "the world's best road trip"!