Survival Strategies

I’ve been asked many times how I’ve coped with caring for Ed during the past 12 years.  There’s no one answer that fits all (just as there’s no one size that fits all), but over the next couple of weeks I’ll share some strategies that have helped me.     I won’t address them in any particular order—at different moments and during different disease stages, they vary in their value.  Please let me know which issues concern you, and I’ll be happy to try to address them.

There are some survival strategies that I’ve learned—or relearned—that improve my communications with everyone in my life.  For example, don’t take the behavior personally.  You know that silverware that your mother put in her closet?  She didn’t put it there to drive you crazy.   And when Ed’s wallet disappeared for two weeks before turning up in a rarely-worn shoe, he didn’t put it there because he likes to watch me tear the house apart.  And when your wife decided to stay in her bathrobe and you missed your doctor’s appointment, it wasn’t about you.  Sure, the frustrating behavior is being done by them and it’s affecting you—but the AD patient is trying to deal with their topsy-turvy world as best they can.  Their behavior makes sense to them at the time.  So don’t take it personally.

Learning to relax in the face of confounding behaviors I can’t control is a healthy way for me to live—whether I’m dealing with someone with AD or with the security lines at the airports.  It’s not personal, it’s not personal, it’s not personal …