PODCAST · society
My Spouse Has Dementia
by Zita Christian
A free, bi-weekly podcast that uses personal stories, occasional interviews, and simple rituals to support dementia caregiving spouses
Episodes
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Rabbi Matt Field asks: Do caregiving agencies have a staffing problem or a people problem? (E-36)
Host and Producer Zita Christian and Guest Rabbi Matt Field, owner of Right at Home, a home care and assistance agency, discussed how agencies such as his can improve dementia care by treating staffing as a human-centered coordination problem rather than simply filling shifts. Care Standards To...
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Taco Bell Executive Creates a Breakthrough Dementia Caregiving Plan for His Mom
Until his mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, Mark Wilson was a human resources executive at Taco Bell. Doctors gave his widowed mom six years to live. Mark retired, moved back home, back to the bedroom of his childhood. And he made a plan. He drew on his corporate experience to build a...
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The Caregiver's Advocate: An Anthology By and For Caregivers
From the caregiver's mindset to making a home safe to understanding the legal side of caregiving, The Caregiver's Advocate is a collection of essays, written by and for caregivers. Debbie DeMoss Compton spearheaded "The Caregiver's Advocate," an international bestselling book featuring 21 authors...
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Seeing the Family Caregiving World from Different Perspectives: An interview with Lance A. Slatton of All Home Care Matters
Lance A. Slatton is a change-maker in the world of family caregiving. He has the lived experience of a caregiver, the expertise of a professional caregiving services provider, and the wisdom to recognize the power of a caregiver's personal story. His service to the community can be seen in...
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Feeling Squeezed? Caring for a Parent with Dementia while Raising Your Young Family
What's it like to be the caregiver for your parents while raising a young family of your own, and your wife is pregnant? Not easy! Healthcare journalist Paul Wynn writes about caregiving issues for more than 70 national publications. He also knows what it's like to be a caregiver, sandwiched...
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AI Resurrects Your Dead Loved One: A Miracle? Or Emotional Whiplash?
Imagine you open your computer, strike a few keys, and there's your spouse…who died three years ago – like my husband did. You aren't looking at a photo. Or a video. No. This is more like Zoom or Facetime. The image you see looks, acts, and moves just like your spouse. Sounds like your spouse…
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The Child Inside the Caregiver: How Your Childhood Attachments Shape Your Caregiving
Your loved one is diagnosed with dementia. While you focus on symptoms, tasks and decisions, a long-standing pattern from your childhood is being triggered. That pattern will shape your caregiving style. That childhood pattern is also being triggered in your loved one. Understanding the pattern…
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Love, Dementia, and Intimacy: How Alzheimer's Changes Marriage
You will never regret being kind to your spouse. In a strong marriage, the sexual expression of love is the sinew that ties two hearts together and forms the kind of bond we depend on to get us through life's greatest challenges. As we age, the intensity of physical passion burns more ember than...
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Laugh, Breathe, Survive: Improv for Caregivers
You know that caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's or other form of dementia can leave your mind confused, your body exhausted, and your spirit depressed. Yes, and what if I said there's something simple that might help you survive the caregiving journey? Yes, and what if I said this something...
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My Two Elaines - A Governor's Dementia Caregiving Love Story
"None of the books I read conveyed the ugly truth about caregiving: that it can destroy you – even kill you – if you go about it wrong." That's just a taste of the hard-hitting reality conveyed by author Martin (Marty) Schreiber in his memoir, "My Two Elaines." Elaine was Marty's highschool...
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Care, Camera, Courage: One Husband's Dementia Story
At part of their daughter's wedding ceremony, Heather was supposed to give their daughter a necklace that had once belonged to Heather's mother. Heather's husband, John, talks about what it was like when he and his daughter realized Heather had not brought the jewelry. "Our daughter actually took...
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Visited Mom Today - An Interview with Author John D. Scully
For 13 years, John Scully visited his mom in a nursing home. For the last 8 years of her life, she couldn't talk. So he had other conversations. And they became a book. It's called Visited Mom Today: Conversations Through the Lens of Alzheimer's and Dementia. Mentioned in the podcast:...
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How I Survived Dementia Care: Truth, Resilience, and Walter Cronkite
I grew up listening to Walter Cronkite. He signed off each nightly newscast with "And that's the way it is." As a kid, I was often alarmed by the news. But I reasoned that if Walter Cronkite respected me enough to tell me the truth, then I could handle it. Yes, my reasoning was flawed. Mr.…
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The Caregiver You Love Needs Help!
This episode is a message for the caregiver to send to someone else, someone who doesn't know, or doesn't understand, the stress the caregiver is going through. I liken that stress to driving alone, in an old car, up a steep mountain on a narrow, twisting road with no place to pull off. There are...
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Tall Ships and Facing Death - Victoria Burdick, Hospice Chaplain, Ret.
"Between now and dead, you've got a purpose. Don't be timid." Before she retired as a hospice chaplain, Reverend Victoria Burdick faced her own death several times. In her 30s while in divinity school, she wrote a series of essays she called "Lunch with Heron." In one of those essays, "The Tall...
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Anticipatory Healing - What Family Dementia Caregivers Need to Know to Survive
You've probably heard of anticipatory grief. Unbidden, hidden, and immediate, it comes with the diagnosis that your loved one has Alzheimer's. Depending on when the diagnosis was delivered, it can be several years or more before your loved one dies. Something in addition to anticipatory grief can...
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Wandering and the Bring Me Back Home Program
For a person with Alzheimer's or other form of dementia, wandering can be dangerous. If that person isn't found within 24 hours, the chances that he or she will suffer serious injury, even death, increase dramatically. The family dementia caregiver will likely experience serious stress until the...
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The Dilemma of Dementia and Driving: Taking away the keys?
Your spouse has Alzheimer's. You know he - or she - shouldn't be driving. When you bring up the subject, you hear some version of, "That's ridiculous! I know how to drive a car." He might be right. He might still know how to drive a car. The problem is that he shouldn't be driving a car. No, this...
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"I Didn't See It Coming" - Interview with LBD caregiver Mary Lou Falcone
Mary Lou Falcone became a caregiver when her father had a massive stroke. She was 10 years old. The experience prepared her for the day, many years later, when her husband, illustrator and 1950s rocker Nicky Zann, was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia (LBD). In her memoir, I Didn't See It Coming:...
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Illusive Dreams and Frustrating Dementia Care Ads
Sometimes, the dreams we carry inspire us. Then life changes, especially if your spouse has dementia. Now, those same dreams weigh us down… and we have to let go. Advertisements for some memory care facilities and some dementia service agencies don't help. I find those ads insulting. You've read...
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My Caregiver Friend Died First
This is a cautionary tale about a dear friend, a family caregiver who died first. She was in her mid-70s, a few weeks younger than I am. In mid-April, she had a stroke. She died mid-July, just as I faced the one-year milestone of my husband's death from Alzheimer's. Her death emphasized the…
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My First Holiday Season Alone
My husband died last summer. He had Alzheimer's. I've experienced a lot of "firsts" without him: his birthday, my birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and most recently, Valentine's Day. Some of those days passed without incident. Others…not so much. It's March. I survived the...
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Not Feeling Festive? Light a Solstice Candle
Not feeling festive? No surprise. For those of us caring for a spouse with Alzheimer's or other form of dementia, December can be a cruel month. While much of the world is joyful. We're sad. It's part of the journey we're on. Today is the Winter Solstice. Light is returning to the Northern...
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Alzheimer's and Hope - A Gift or A Curse?
Are you caring for a spouse with Alzheimer's? You need to know that hope, like optimism, can strengthen your resilience or distort your reality. Hope can also be the key to your surivival. My husband died four months ago. In caring for him, I journeyed from confusion to determination, from anger…
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The Power of Grief, Community, and a Tree
When tragedy reshapes your life, having a supportive community is key to your survival. Since my husband died of Alzheimer's three months ago, I've been in a cave of sorts, rarely leaving the house. My neighbors drew me back into the world of the living - with a tree. For family dementia...
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Death and the Funeral
From the time my husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, my goal was to care for him at home. He died last month, at home, in my arms. This episode shares deeply personal details about the changes in our relationship, the loss of physical intimacy, the physical realities of death, the...
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Hospice - Help When the End is Near
My husband died at home on July 19. From steady decline to dramatic drop to sudden nosedive, to death -- that was the pattern. I was prepared for some steps. Others blindsided me. Hospice helped both my husband and me in ways I didn't expect.
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Sudden Falls and Rapid Changes
Alzheimer's degrades a person slowly over a period of years. When a downturn comes, symptoms can escalate suddenly. As a dementia family caregiver, you need to know what that downturn could look like. Knowing can help you survive.
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Mistakes and Dementia Self-Care Rituals
Studies show that how the dementia family caregiver interprets her stress is key to her survival. I'm sharing 3 rituals I created that have helped me. I also share 3 mistakes I made in the early years of caring for my husband. He has Alzheimer's, late stage.
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Our Loved Ones - The Power of the Stories We Tell
Zita Christian shares three personal stories about her husband who has late-stage Alzheimer's. She talks about the importance of telling the stories of our loved ones before they are seized with dementia. She talks about why it's important for us to tell our own stories, too.
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Alzheimer's and Vision Changes
Even if a patient with Alzheimer's has healthy eyes, the brain can distort what the patient sees. Depth perception changes, too, as does the ability to recognize common items. For an 81-year-old man whose mind tells him he's now in his teens or younger, seeing his reflection in a mirror can be...
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Why You Need a Medical ID Bracelet
If your loved one wouldn't understand or know what to do if the police called your home because you'd been in an accident, you need to wear a medical ID bracelet. With the right info, it alerts first responders that your spouse has dementia. Check out LaurensHope.com for a variety of medical...
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Lost in the Front Yard
More than 20 years ago, my husband successfully thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail. More recently, he took a walk in our small condo complex. When he was finished, he got frustrated because his key wouldn't unlock the front door. It wasn't our front door.
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Using the Word "Alzheimer's"
The power of a name is not restricted to fairy tales. For the longest time, I couldn't bring myself to talk about my husband's diagnosis: Alzheimer's. When I finally faced the power loaded in that word, everything changed.
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Getting the Diagnosis
There was a difference between the news I expected and the news we received. Hearing "Alzheimer's," our future suddenly crumbled. The disease affects everyone differently. Maybe my husband wouldn't forget who I was. Maybe he wouldn't forget where we lived. Maybe he wouldn't get any worse than he...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
A free, bi-weekly podcast that uses personal stories, occasional interviews, and simple rituals to support dementia caregiving spouses
HOSTED BY
Zita Christian
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does My Spouse Has Dementia have?
My Spouse Has Dementia currently has 36 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is My Spouse Has Dementia about?
A free, bi-weekly podcast that uses personal stories, occasional interviews, and simple rituals to support dementia caregiving spouses
How often does My Spouse Has Dementia release new episodes?
My Spouse Has Dementia has 36 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to My Spouse Has Dementia?
You can listen to My Spouse Has Dementia on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts My Spouse Has Dementia?
My Spouse Has Dementia is created and hosted by Zita Christian.
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