Wednesday, February 22, 2006
I'm coming out of it.
Funny how it's happened. There are two posts below that delineate some of the process.
The immediate first is a short series of e's between MFLNF and me that have been exchanged over the last 24 hours or so. Responding to his e's allowed me to define, for myself, what's happening to me and renew my commitment to what I'm doing.
The second was catalyzed sometime this last weekend. On a whim I plugged a couple of search terms into Google: "grant caregiver". I wanted to see what sort of government grants were offered to organizations purporting to deal with caregivers and how those grants are being used. Up popped a stunner: National Family Caregivers Association, who received a grant to record 500 word stories of family caregivers across the nation for the expressed purpose of shedding some light on the reality of family caregivers. The site is extensive. I decided to join as a family caregiver (it's free) and see what hard copy materials NFCA had to offer. I received those materials today and read through them (I'm not only a fast writer, I'm a fast reader). My self-catalyzing reactions are contained in the second post immediately below this one.
Otherwise, things are going better and slowly, as usual. Mom is continuing her Late "Morning", Late "Night" adventures, although she petered out today and didn't stay up the full 12 from when she arose, exactly 12 hours after retiring yesterday morning at 0230. There have been a bunch of intriguing programs on both the Science and History channels over the last few days, most notably a series called Miracle Planet that started late in the evening night before last and continued until 0300 yesterday morning. I made it through the final episode. My mother conked out halfway through. We both are hoping the series repeats earlier in the day at some time.
While watching an Inside the Actors Studio fest on Saturday, during the Russell Crowe interview (surprisingly, one of the better interviews) we were reminded of Master and Commander: Far Side of the World. My mother couldn't remember seeing it and expressed unusual interest in it so I pulled it out and queued it. She was riveted. Watching it through a Navy Gal's eyes polished my appreciation of it. After the movie she mentioned that she wished she'd been a sailor in the early 1800's. Interesting.
Otherwise, I also engineered a Sex and the City run, fifth and sixth seasons, in an attempt to lift my spirits. It worked, partially and fleetingly.
I also noticed that when I'm in Caregiver Burnout I tend to do more elaborate cooking, or, at least, I consider doing more elaborate cooking and actually do some of it.
Anyway, on to the posts. You'll notice that they are spiced with anger. Anger seems to be a depression antidote for me. If I can find a way to trigger it, I can usually find my way out of the woods.
On to the Posts of Significance.
The immediate first is a short series of e's between MFLNF and me that have been exchanged over the last 24 hours or so. Responding to his e's allowed me to define, for myself, what's happening to me and renew my commitment to what I'm doing.
The second was catalyzed sometime this last weekend. On a whim I plugged a couple of search terms into Google: "grant caregiver". I wanted to see what sort of government grants were offered to organizations purporting to deal with caregivers and how those grants are being used. Up popped a stunner: National Family Caregivers Association, who received a grant to record 500 word stories of family caregivers across the nation for the expressed purpose of shedding some light on the reality of family caregivers. The site is extensive. I decided to join as a family caregiver (it's free) and see what hard copy materials NFCA had to offer. I received those materials today and read through them (I'm not only a fast writer, I'm a fast reader). My self-catalyzing reactions are contained in the second post immediately below this one.
Otherwise, things are going better and slowly, as usual. Mom is continuing her Late "Morning", Late "Night" adventures, although she petered out today and didn't stay up the full 12 from when she arose, exactly 12 hours after retiring yesterday morning at 0230. There have been a bunch of intriguing programs on both the Science and History channels over the last few days, most notably a series called Miracle Planet that started late in the evening night before last and continued until 0300 yesterday morning. I made it through the final episode. My mother conked out halfway through. We both are hoping the series repeats earlier in the day at some time.
While watching an Inside the Actors Studio fest on Saturday, during the Russell Crowe interview (surprisingly, one of the better interviews) we were reminded of Master and Commander: Far Side of the World. My mother couldn't remember seeing it and expressed unusual interest in it so I pulled it out and queued it. She was riveted. Watching it through a Navy Gal's eyes polished my appreciation of it. After the movie she mentioned that she wished she'd been a sailor in the early 1800's. Interesting.
Otherwise, I also engineered a Sex and the City run, fifth and sixth seasons, in an attempt to lift my spirits. It worked, partially and fleetingly.
I also noticed that when I'm in Caregiver Burnout I tend to do more elaborate cooking, or, at least, I consider doing more elaborate cooking and actually do some of it.
Anyway, on to the posts. You'll notice that they are spiced with anger. Anger seems to be a depression antidote for me. If I can find a way to trigger it, I can usually find my way out of the woods.
On to the Posts of Significance.
