Your loved one is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. What happens now? Do I give up my life? Do they? This wasn’t part of our plans. This is not fair. This is so overwhelming. I need help!
You prepare.
No, neither your social life nor theirs ends with the diagnoses; but you both will need to prepare for the future.
There are many things that we don’t plan for but there are many blessings and growing opportunities that will come out of the road ahead. It will probably be both rewarding and depressing; but planning now is your key to surviving with your sanity intact.
Fair? It all depends on how you approach it: hide, run or…plan.
Ah, my favorite part. Overwhelming. That’s my favorite part! God created us as community beings and that’s how we get through most of the bad stuff in our lives. It makes those good times even better, because we have friends, family…community around us.
With that thought, I would like to remind you of www.alz.org/norcal as one of those resources that will help you plan and lead you to others who are working through the same or similar issues that you both are facing. They have tons of educational programs in your area and in the Placer/Sacramento County areas. Del Oro, http://www.deloro.org, partners with them on many of the educational programs. Seniors First, http://seniorsfirst.org/, also assists with training, referrals, relief and many other resources.
Don’t despair, there really is help. But you have to reach out first.
