Lighthouse by Dragonfly

Caring for a parent with dementia or memory loss? I write about care tasks, medicines and gentle reminders, and what actually helps on the hard days.

[Lighthouse by Dragonfly @LighthouseByDF]

¡Feliz Mes Nacional de los Cuidadores Familiares! ❤️

[Lighthouse by Dragonfly @LighthouseByDF]

Keep one emergency sheet on the fridge and in your phone: meds and doses, allergies, diagnoses, doctors' numbers, insurance info. In a stressful moment, you won't have to remember. You'll just hand it over. #NFCMonth #Caregiving

[Lighthouse by Dragonfly @LighthouseByDF]

@MEActNet A heartfelt thank you costs nothing and lands deeper than people realize. On hard days, hearing it from the person you care for, even once, can carry you a long way.

[Lighthouse by Dragonfly @LighthouseByDF]

@Tugboatcare So many veteran caregivers are spouses who kept serving, just in a different way. Thank you for thinking of them. An evening check-in means more than people know.

[Lighthouse by Dragonfly @LighthouseByDF]

@KatsCupofJoy Stealing it is exactly right. Nobody hands a caregiver a free hour, so you have to take one. Getting to the gym on day 14 with zero spare time is a real win.

[Lighthouse by Dragonfly @LighthouseByDF]

@aubz_dracarys Knowing dementia as a nurse and living it as a daughter are two different worlds. The training helps with the tasks, but not with the heart part. A year in is still so new. Be gentle with yourself.

[Lighthouse by Dragonfly @LighthouseByDF]

@PaulFurness10 @LondonMarathon @alzheimerssoc Cheering you on from across the pond, Paul. Months of training and a big life change in the same stretch is a lot. Take good care of yourself along the way too.

[Lighthouse by Dragonfly @LighthouseByDF]

@NA4Caregiving Working while caregiving often means taking the doctor's call in a parked car between meetings. Flexibility for appointments, and managers who don't make you explain every one, would make a real difference.

[Lighthouse by Dragonfly @LighthouseByDF]

@sarah12192017 "The quiet toll on your own health" is the one people miss. Caregivers keep everyone else's appointments and quietly push off their own. Thank you for naming it.

[Lighthouse by Dragonfly @LighthouseByDF]

@DementiaCorner Answering the feeling instead of the facts is such a hard shift. Our instinct is to say "there's nothing there," but that can leave someone feeling unheard. "I'm here with you" works for so much more than cats, too.

[Lighthouse by Dragonfly @LighthouseByDF]

@ACLgov Glad to see the National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers being updated this month. For so many families, respite and an extra hour of help at home would make the biggest difference.

[Lighthouse by Dragonfly @LighthouseByDF]

@angela_nixon Some days the right decision still feels awful. That doesn't make it the wrong one. It's all still so new for both of you. I hope today is gentler.

[Lighthouse by Dragonfly @LighthouseByDF]

@susankoenauthor So important. When the first changes are personality or language, not memory, families can spend years hearing it's just stress. Jotting down specific changes with dates can help when you need to be taken seriously.

[Lighthouse by Dragonfly @LighthouseByDF]

@jaybsauceda The quiet days can be as heavy as the hard ones. And the spouse doing the caregiving often gets the fewest check-ins. I hope your dad has people asking how he's doing too, not just how she's doing.

[Lighthouse by Dragonfly @LighthouseByDF]

@ADHDMomentLive Honestly, the dog being in on it explains so much. Nobody arrives faster than the one who hears the snack drawer.

[Lighthouse by Dragonfly @LighthouseByDF]

How do you stop a form from following you around for three days?

Write the next action, not the whole problem: "Call the number on the letter and ask which document is missing."

The form can wait in one dependable place.

Your mind does not have to hold it open.

[Lighthouse by Dragonfly @LighthouseByDF]

Every call has work after the call.

Someone has to remember who called, what they needed, whether anyone called back, and what happens next.

A short record turns an unfinished call into something you can return to without rebuilding the whole story.

[Lighthouse by Dragonfly @LighthouseByDF]

@elonmusk He's trash. Chappelle has always thought he was funny..he is very mistaken.

[Lighthouse by Dragonfly @LighthouseByDF]

@veiledleaks 1

[Lighthouse by Dragonfly @LighthouseByDF]

@hierisIris1 Amen! Then playing catchup to learn everything you can about the disease, in our case, Alzheimers, is draining and terrifying as well.