Full Circle

It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon following several nights worth of extreme Arizona monsoon thunderstorms which expemplifies the tulmultous developments in my family's lifecycle since my last post. After nearly six years of being the sole caregiver to my parents I hit bottom, total burnout....complete emotional, spiritual and physical breakdown. I have been in a holistic recovery center (The Sundance Center) now for the past month.

Pop has suffered several small TIA's affecting his speech and mental clarity, spent several weeks in Del Webb Hospital's SAGE unit (Support Adaptation Growth Enrichment Program), been diagnosed as having early stages of dementia and is now living at The Freedom Inn in Sun City West in his own studio apartment but not adjusting well to the transition despite the high level of facilities and care he is receiving. Anyway you shape it up, it's still not home.

Mom is still at home with my sister Kathy caring for her following spinal fusion surgery in March and knee replacement surgery last week.

Wellshpere Network Addition!

I'm very pleased to announce that "A Caregiver's Silence" has been noticed and I was contacted by Geoffrey W. Rutledge MD, PhD and asked to add "ACGS" to the Wellsphere Network's family of health related blogs! Wellsphere builds online healthy living communities that help people ‘Get active, Eat better and Unwind’. Wellsphere’s groundbreaking platform works by connecting each member with local health and wellness resources, classes and activities that match their unique interests and goals, and with the personalized advice and social support they need to sustain healthy habits. The company hosts a public website for consumers at http://www.wellsphere.com and creates proprietary communities (such as BeWell@Stanford) for large organizations seeking to improve the health and well being of their members and reduce their healthcare costs. Wellsphere is headquartered in San Mateo, California.

I am very flattered and excited about this new collaboration and welcome new readers coming onboard through Wellsphere!