النص 🔗
WEBVTT
00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:12.240
Packing up family, I am very excited because you know I sometimes you meet someone in passing and you're like wow that person has a light, an energy, a higher vibration.
00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:13.759
I hope I get to see them.
00:00:15.119 --> 00:00:18.719
And today, I'm getting to see her again.
00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:21.600
I can't wait to tell you where I met her, how I met her.
00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:28.800
But Pastor Jeanette is a supernova in the world of caregiving and caregiving support.
00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:30.559
She's based out of Chicago.
00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:42.640
She got so sick and tired of being sick and tired of what caregivers did not have that she founded her own orientation to teach people what she thinks they need to know.
00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:45.759
Okay, come on.
00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:46.960
Let's get into it.
00:00:47.119 --> 00:00:48.320
Let's talk the fact.
00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:58.159
Parenting up Caregiving Adventures with comedian J Smiles is the intense journey of unexpectedly being fully responsible for my mama.
00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:10.400
For over a decade, I've been chipping away at the unknown, advocating for her, and pushing Alzheimer's awareness on anyone in any scene with a heartbeat.
00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:25.920
Caregiver newbie, OG, and village members just willing to prop up a caregiver.
00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:28.159
You are in the right place.
00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:31.280
Hi, this is Zetty.
00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:36.719
I hope you enjoy my daughter's podcast.
00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:46.959
Today's supporters shout out comes from YouTube, Bonnie Groper.
00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:51.359
I'm so sorry, my mom had it too, and it's horrible.
00:01:51.680 --> 00:02:09.120
This is in response to the episode where I was interviewed by Allz in Color to tell my story about caregiving, the journey, the depth, the community that we've created since then.
00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:10.879
Thank you so much, Bonnie.
00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:15.599
Now, if you want to be the recipient of a supporter shout out, you know what to do.
00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:18.560
YouTube or Apple Podcasts.
00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:21.199
Leave a review and a comment.
00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:23.199
We're parenting up everywhere.
00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:27.439
Today's episode, Dementia Deserves Diggon.
00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:30.400
A conversation with Pastor Jeanette.
00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:31.280
Hello.
00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:33.039
Hey, Pastor.
00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:34.719
Hello, how are you?
00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:35.840
I am great.
00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:37.599
I'm so happy to be here.
00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:41.599
I am excited to just be with you one more time.
00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:42.639
God is good.
00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:44.159
God is enabler.
00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:46.000
All the time, all the time.
00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:50.560
So we met originally at the altar conference with Dr.
00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:51.840
Pharon Epps.
00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:55.120
And I was actually in the green room.
00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:59.680
I was performing as a comedian during the gospel explosion.
00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:03.599
And in the green room, I was so touched by you.
00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:05.680
I couldn't even hardly finish putting my face on.
00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:08.159
I'm supposed to put on my face and my makeup, Pastor.
00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:30.080
And I listened, and you're in the corner, even though you are also there as a participant to talk at the um at altar, you were on the phone counseling a person who was having a lot of difficulty with their role as a caregiver.
00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:34.400
And it made me stop doing what I was doing and listen to the compassion.
00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:36.159
You were so kind.
00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:38.080
You were so patient.
00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:40.319
Who are you?
00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:45.280
Why did you where'd you Pastor Jeanette, how did you learn how to be that kind and patient?
00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:46.639
Let me tell you this.
00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:57.840
My whole focus on helping those who are struggling as caregivers came from the fact that my husband, the greatest pediatrician in the world, Dr.
00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:05.599
Robert Andrew Jordan, who is the first African-American chief resident ever at Rush Presbyterian St.
00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:07.680
Luke Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.
00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:08.719
That's a big deal.
00:04:08.879 --> 00:04:09.680
It's a big deal.
00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:10.879
It's a big deal.
00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:17.920
And I mean, he was well known in Chicago and especially in the south suburbs of Chicago, where he had thousands and thousands of patients.
00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:21.120
He was a pediatrician and he loved what he did.
00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:24.959
And the thing was, Jay, I don't understand.
00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:38.399
I did not understand at that time how this, what I have to term boad, beast of a disease, could cross our threshold in our home and attack my husband with this disease called Alzheimer's.
00:04:39.519 --> 00:04:59.759
And so for many years, I was in denial, at least from 2014 until 2016, I was in denial that this disease was actually attacking my husband's brain and picking his brain bit by bit, causing him to lose his cognitive abilities.
00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:06.720
And so I went on a journey with him as he was going through the stages of Alzheimer's.
00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:16.480
And as I was going on that journey, I realized that there were people that didn't understand what that disease was or how to care for my husband.
00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:26.240
Even though I had caregivers coming into my home from agencies, they didn't understand how to interact with him, what to do with him.
00:05:26.480 --> 00:05:28.959
And I just kind of sit back because I didn't know.
00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:29.680
Right.
Load full transcript
00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:31.199
Who does that know it's called?
00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:32.959
But I was hoping that they were gonna come in and teach you.
00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:48.079
I've I've figured, well, I learned that also the hard way, Pastor, in that you can have a very equipped and very experienced home care person or home care agency.
00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:52.879
But it doesn't mean that they know about dementia and Alzheimer's.
00:05:53.120 --> 00:06:02.160
They just may know how to get someone clean, how to do their laundry or uh give them their food and their medicine and take them for a walk.
00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:08.639
And I'm like, yeah, but you can't talk to my mama like you talk to me because baby, she don't know what you're talking about.
00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:09.360
Absolutely.
00:06:09.519 --> 00:06:12.560
Now you mentioned, first of all, I love the way you broke down Boad.
00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:16.399
So we listen, that that's gonna now be a parenting up podcast world.
00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:18.240
We're gonna hashtag that all over the place.
00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:19.360
I appreciate that.
00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:25.600
Now you said in 2014, is that was he diagnosed then, or did you just see things happening?
00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:26.959
I I saw things happening.
00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:27.360
Okay.
00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:30.720
I saw things happening, and I didn't believe that they were happening.
00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:34.560
Uh and I I would run back in the closet and I'd say this can be happening to us.
00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:37.600
You know, my husband is an educated man, he reads all the time.
00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:40.399
He's very, very uh uh academic.
00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:52.160
Uh, I know that he cannot be forgetting that he called me five minutes ago and asked me how I'm doing, and then in the next five minutes coming back again and asking me the same thing.
00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:52.560
Right.
00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:53.600
Uh I know that.
00:06:53.680 --> 00:06:58.959
And I would bring it to his attention, and he was really, really creative at covering it up.
00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:01.199
He would say, Oh, you know, I'm preoccupied.
00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:03.600
That was his his his verbage.
00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:04.879
I'm preoccupied.
00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:06.560
You know, a doctor's preoccupied.
00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:07.680
I can forget things.
00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:09.040
Everybody forgets stuff.
00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:10.879
You like, yeah, okay, that sounds okay.
00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:11.920
Okay, babe, I got it.
00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:13.199
So I go back into the closet.
00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:16.000
But then I started to see some very strange things.
00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:16.240
Okay.
00:07:16.399 --> 00:07:19.920
Like maybe it's car keys hanging on a clothes hanger in his closet.
00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:20.480
Okay.
00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:22.319
I said, oh, that's not right.
00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:25.839
That that that's something else is going on.
00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:29.040
Uh one time I found his cell phone in the refrigerator.
00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:30.879
There's something going on.
00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:31.279
Okay.
00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:37.920
So that's when I had to take control and come out of the closet and seek help.
00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:39.759
Was he still working at that time?
00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:42.079
No, he worked up until 2017.
00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:46.399
He was very, very, I mean, the the stages, it's it's so crazy.
00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:48.480
You know, they're very, very slow.
00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:48.959
Yes.
00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:53.600
You start out in your early stage where you're still functioning.
00:07:53.839 --> 00:08:04.480
You may forget that you called me, but you could go back into the room and examine your patient and be on point with your diagnosis, be on point with your prescription, be on point.
00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:08.160
Uh, and he was on point for a long time like that.
00:08:08.399 --> 00:08:21.040
Uh, one of the things that I did notice about his cognitive decline was he could not remember his username, that he had to go into uh, you know, the computer to log in his notes.
00:08:21.199 --> 00:08:24.399
Uh he could not remember his password.
00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:26.079
And so I helped him out.
00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:29.360
I would write it out for him and tell him that it's in his wallet.
00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:34.080
And then he would call me even when he was at the hospital to try to make notes on his inpatient.
00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:36.399
And I said, maybe I put it in your wallet, just take it out.
00:08:36.559 --> 00:08:38.240
He couldn't remember that it was in his wallet.
00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:38.559
Right.
00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:40.720
So, you know, you see those things.
00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:48.000
And so when I noticed all of these things happening, I began to try to read and research what I'm supposed to do?
00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:53.600
How am I supposed to get him, you know, to seek uh help because he was in denial.
00:08:53.759 --> 00:08:54.080
Yes.
00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:56.960
And so I just learned nobody could tell me.
00:08:57.200 --> 00:09:02.399
Had anyone else brought it to your attention that he might not quite be himself?
00:09:02.639 --> 00:09:03.679
Well, I'm gonna tell you this.
00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:04.000
Okay.
00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:05.919
I'm gonna tell you this little story.
00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:10.639
He was also what was called a preceptor professor in his in our practice.
00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:10.960
Okay.
00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:17.919
Uh the medical students would come to him or the nurse practitioners who were in school would come and get their clinical training from him.
00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:23.039
And so we were uh contracted with a particular medical school.
00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:28.159
And in 20, it was probably 2016, maybe
that they showed up.
00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:29.519
And they says, Um, Mrs.
00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:31.519
Jordan, I just want to ask you this.
00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:33.519
Do you notice that Dr.
00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:36.159
Jordan is sometimes forgetting things?
00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:39.600
Well, you know, really, I had observed that.
00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:40.639
You had observed something.
00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:41.919
You were like, something is happening.
00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:44.799
I I observed it, but again, I was in denial.
00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:45.120
Yeah.
00:09:45.279 --> 00:09:48.240
And when that person asked me that, I says, Well, not really.
00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:49.759
I said, you know, he's preoccupied.
00:09:49.840 --> 00:09:51.679
I'm beginning to use his verbiage.
00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:53.279
I said, he's preoccupied.
00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:59.200
I just want everyone who's listening to this and not watching the video to know I just high five, Pastor Jeanette.
00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:02.879
She said, Well, I well, listen, he's not forgetting, but he is preoccupied.
00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:03.840
Won't we do it?
00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:06.559
Because we are here, first and foremost.
00:10:06.799 --> 00:10:08.960
We want to care for the people we love.
00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:14.559
We don't want them to do uh to be embarrassed or to feel distressed.
00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:19.519
And so, as their protectors, you say, Hey, he was preoccupied.
00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:20.720
He was preoccupied.
00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:25.600
So what happened was I said, okay, he may be preoccupied, but the students are saying that Dr.
00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:27.120
Jordan is forgetting.
00:10:27.360 --> 00:10:30.960
And so therefore, we're gonna have to withdraw our contract.
00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:33.679
We can't renew our contract for the upcoming year.
00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:34.080
Okay.
00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:35.840
I became insulted.
00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:41.039
Even though I became very insulted.
00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:45.200
I said, well, you can take your contract and put it somewhere else.
00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:46.639
Uh, because he's fine.
00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:47.360
Well, right.
00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:54.320
After he left, I I really had to talk to myself, you know, Jeanette, you know something is going on.
00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:56.320
So you have to do something.
00:10:56.559 --> 00:11:05.279
And that's when we began to actively pursue uh how we were going to close, even close down his practice.
00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:05.759
Okay.
00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:11.440
Because we could not allow him to continue practicing for his safety and the safety of his patient.
00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:11.919
Correct.
00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:22.960
So it was really a process from January 2017, well, the end of 2016 to June the 30th, 2017, is when we actually closed the practice down.
00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:24.240
But we're strategic.
00:11:24.559 --> 00:11:25.519
It's about 18 months.
00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:28.480
That's I'm sure that was a very tumultuous time.
00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:32.399
It it had to be, but he was still on target with his diagnosis.
00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:34.399
He was still on target with his patients.
00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:37.200
They loved him, they saw no changes in him.
00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:37.759
Whatever Dr.
00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:39.919
Jordan said was, hey, on point.
00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:40.159
Right.
00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:43.600
And so, but we had to be strategic because we could not leave the patients abandoned.
00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:45.600
Doctors cannot walk away from their patients.
00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:56.399
So we had to make sure that we found other, you know, uh facilities and physicians that they could go to and how we could gather up all of the documents and all the files and make sure that the doctors got that.
00:11:56.480 --> 00:11:57.120
So we did it.
00:11:57.279 --> 00:12:03.679
And he was given this huge, huge going away party as he retired because he was 75.
00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:04.639
Okay, listen.
00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:05.440
Okay, listen.
00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:06.399
That's what they said.
00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:08.639
Doc and pastor, all right.
00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:08.960
Yeah.
00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:11.360
At 75, it's time to retire anyway.
00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:11.679
Yeah.
00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:14.639
You've worked a hard for a long time.
00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:17.360
Enjoy yourself with it from the what you're describing.
00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:18.639
He really enjoyed his work.
00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:19.840
He enjoyed his patience.
00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:23.600
So to ask him to stop doing that, I'm sure that was difficult.
00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:34.480
How did he respond initially when so this contract, the hospital with the contract said, hey, we are not going to renew the contract?
00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:39.360
And how did your husband digest that?
00:12:39.759 --> 00:12:40.960
I didn't tell him that.
00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:43.440
One more time.
00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:44.480
Half five.
00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:46.000
I didn't tell him that.
00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:52.000
I just told him that, you know, we're cutting back on the number of uh contracts that we're accepting.
00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:52.320
Okay.
00:12:52.639 --> 00:13:01.600
Because I didn't want to hurt his feelings and I knew something was going on, so I had to be strategic and how I was going to wind this thing down.
00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:03.679
So you just said, baby, we're going to retire.
00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:04.960
We're going to retire next year.
00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:06.399
It's time for you to retire.
00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:07.679
Your 10 years passed.
00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:09.360
But he went out kicking and screaming.
00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:10.879
But did not want to do that.
00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:15.440
But I said, but you know, we need to
spend our last days just enjoying life.
00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:15.840
Yeah.
00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:18.720
We could not golf every day if we want to.
00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:19.039
Okay.
00:13:19.200 --> 00:13:20.559
We could go traveling every day.
00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:23.039
So at that time, you loved him into it.
00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:26.480
You just loved and coerced and coaxed.
00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:27.200
No, coaxed.
00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:29.200
You loved and coaxed him into it, baby.
00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:30.320
It's it's our time.
00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:30.960
It's our time.
00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:31.679
It's our time.
00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:36.879
And so I can't, we can't be together kicking it in in Chicago, stepping and all the things.
00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:40.159
And look, on Lake Michigan on the boat, if you at work all the time.
00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:40.960
Absolutely.
00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:48.399
And you probably were the only one alive that could have ushered him through those stages so softly.
00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:49.039
I was right there.
00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:50.000
Praise God for you.
00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:50.879
Praise God for you.
00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:51.360
Yeah.
00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:58.080
And so even at that time, we we were knowing that he was going through this, uh, I had told him, I said, maybe you should write a book.
00:13:58.240 --> 00:13:59.840
You should write a book about your life.
00:13:59.919 --> 00:14:00.240
Yeah.
00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:08.320
Uh, and uh, because you're a little, you know, you were a little black boy from Mississippi, uh, and and and you weren't the smartest kid in school.
00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:19.519
However, because of your dedication to your family, you decided that you were gonna, you know, go back to school and uh get your undergraduate degree, and then you decided you were gonna go to medical school.
00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:20.799
You know, that's really unheard of.
00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:24.399
So you need to talk about from suspenders to stethoscope.
00:14:24.559 --> 00:14:24.960
I love it.
00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:26.080
That was the name of his book.
00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:27.919
Okay, Suspenders to Stethoscope.
00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:30.799
So it talks about his life before the disease.
00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:37.360
Although he was going through his disease when he was writing the book, but he can remember all of those things from the past.
00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:45.200
So we had um a publisher who was his authorized biographer, and she helped us uh create a beautiful story.
00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:46.799
And I'm gonna have to make sure I get you that book.
00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:47.279
Please.
00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:48.639
Because it's very, very interesting.
00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:49.279
I love it.
00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:52.879
And I love an alliteration from suspendus to stethoscope.
00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:55.519
If you give me an alliteration, honey, you have me at
hello.
00:14:57.440 --> 00:14:58.559
Okay, okay.
00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:03.440
Yeah, but uh so we went on through and he came home.
00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:07.679
We retired him on June the 30th, 2017.
00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:20.240
Okay, July the 1st, 2017, he woke up, he went to his closet, he put on his suit, his shirt, his lab coat, and his stethoscope around his neck.
00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:20.559
Okay.
00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:22.000
Because he was going to work.
00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:22.879
Yeah.
00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:26.240
That was the beginning of the reality.
00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:28.000
For you, for me.
00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:28.639
Okay.
00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:33.279
Now I had to convince him, baby, you're retired.
00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:36.000
And then he said, Who said I was retired?
00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:43.200
He had forgotten about the big party, about the big retirement party, and all the kids had come and everybody had said farewell.
00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:44.159
He forgot about that.
00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:44.960
Oh my goodness.
00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:46.399
So quickly.
00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:52.240
Such a major event, and you're saying, like the next day.
00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:52.960
The next day.
00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:55.679
He said, I don't know what all that, I don't even remember that.
00:15:55.840 --> 00:15:57.360
But what I do is I go to work.
00:15:57.519 --> 00:15:58.320
I go to work.
00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:01.200
So provide for my family, take care of my community.
00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:02.879
Oh, I'm getting goosebumps.
00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:03.200
Yeah.
00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:05.919
But at that time, Jay, I I didn't even know what to say.
00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:07.759
I said, Boy, you know you retired.
00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:08.720
Take off that suit.
00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:11.600
Take, you know, I didn't know how to communicate with him.
00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:12.080
Okay.
00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:14.480
And so it was a tug of war on that day.
00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:18.159
But finally I got him to take off that and put on maybe a jogging suit.
00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:20.000
Let's just go for a walk or a ride.
00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:21.120
It's gonna be okay.
00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:24.240
And the next day it happened again.
00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:29.200
And so that's when I realized that I have to find out about this disease.
00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:30.720
I gotta read about this disease.
00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:34.080
I have to educate myself about this disease because I don't know what to do.
00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:34.879
I don't know what to do.
00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:36.159
I have no idea what to do.
00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:38.320
And we're arguing, and I'm arguing back with him.
00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:40.399
And I'm saying, how come you don't remember?
00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:41.679
You supposed to remember.
00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:42.879
You know we had that party.
00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:44.159
What's wrong with
you?
00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:46.159
You know, all the wrong things.
00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:47.279
Correct.
00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:49.759
And I began to be depressed.
00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:51.360
I began to be anxious.
00:16:51.519 --> 00:16:54.080
I began to cry every day.
00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:55.519
Oh sobbing.
00:16:55.759 --> 00:16:58.480
I mean, I didn't think I was going to be able to make it.
00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:01.919
And then I said, you know, Jeanette, there's got to be some support groups.
00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:03.440
Uh I called one of my friends.
00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:07.519
She said, Well, you know, I heard have you heard of ever heard of the Alzheimer's Association?
00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:10.160
I said, Well, not really, but what's the number?
00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:12.079
So I called the Alzheimer's Association.
00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:15.680
Now, was this before he had a diagnosis that you called it?
00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:17.119
Before that he had the diagnosis.
00:17:17.279 --> 00:17:18.240
So you just called them.
00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:19.440
Well, a friend said.
00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:21.839
A friend said, Do you know, have you heard of the Alzheimer's?
00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:22.960
That is fortuitous.
00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:24.000
That is fortuitous.
00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:28.000
Well, not really, but give me the number because I didn't know anything about Alzheimer's.
00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:33.759
We've heard about it, but no one in my family that I knew of at that time.
00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:34.480
Right.
00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:35.519
Had it.
00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:41.759
In retrospect, I know somebody that had it, but not then I didn't realize that my grand my father had it.
00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:42.000
Okay.
00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:44.000
But I didn't realize it until after Dr.
00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:45.759
Jordan's going through this.
00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:52.000
But anyway, after I called the Alzheimer's Association and they helped me with some uh strategies on how I can help him.
00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:54.240
I didn't, I said I think he has Alzheimer's, you know.
00:17:54.559 --> 00:17:54.960
Like I don't know.
00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:58.559
I don't know, but this is some of his something is happening, and I need some help.
00:17:58.720 --> 00:17:59.200
I need to know.
00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:00.960
So they helped me with some situations.
00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:02.720
And then I began to read books.
00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:09.200
And I read, we get the research that's, oh yeah, he's got it because these are the symptoms and these are the reactions.
00:18:09.359 --> 00:18:14.640
And after that, I said, I need a support group because I need to know that I'm not in this thing all by myself.
00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:20.720
So I went to a South Suburban Hospital in Chicago, the South Suburbs of Chicago, and joined a support group.
00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:30.000
And we were just talking that support group and we were having the same things going on, the same, you know, uh frustrations and the same reactions.
00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:32.319
And our loved ones were going through the same thing.
00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:33.440
I said, okay.
00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:44.880
So we went on and I then told my uh older daughter, I said, you know, we we got to get your dad uh definitive diagnosis because I don't know what this is, and but we don't know because he said ain't nothing wrong with him.
00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:50.400
The primary care physician that I'm talking to, now I did talk to his primary care physician about what I thought was going on.
00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:50.880
Okay.
00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:59.200
And but my husband again was so crafty, he convinced the primary care physician, man, you know our doctors are preoccupied.
00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:02.720
So he convinced his primary care physician that he was preoccupied.
00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:09.920
Pastor, Pastor, I right here, that is so I know it's true because it happened with my mom.
00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:16.559
My mom, my mom was uh a CPA and a forensic accountant, an expert witness.
00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:22.480
So the gift of Gab and talking around a point is what she did for a living.
00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:27.759
She was the first black woman to do that nationally with her own firm in the nation.
00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:32.000
And so I was looking at these doctors like, I don't care what she said.
00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:33.359
Listen to me.
00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:35.440
I am telling you, she's not okay.
00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:47.279
Now I didn't say that in front of my mother, but I was amazed at how many medical experts my mama pulled a wool over their eyes.
00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:51.680
I said, on three card money, if y'all met her in the street, she'd take all your money.
00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:53.759
Yeah.
00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:55.039
You wouldn't have beat it.
00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:56.880
And so I see that was happening with Dr.
00:19:56.960 --> 00:19:57.519
Jordan, too.
00:19:57.680 --> 00:19:58.480
He just yeah.
00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:05.519
I went to, took him to a psychiatrist, and I ended up saying the psychiatrist needed to see a psychiatrist because he wasn't listening to nothing that I say.
00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:11.839
All he wanted to do was give him some medication, and so that would just uh kind of numb what was going on.
00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:14.319
And I knew that wasn't wasn't right.
00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:21.839
And so finally, my older daughter found a uh neurological, the University of Chicago Neurological U Center.
00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:22.319
Right.
00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:28.160
And we found this wonderful physician who was over the department, she was the department head that had him to come in.
00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:30.720
I had to struggle to get him there, and I learned to be a good thing.
00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:31.599
How did you get him there?
00:20:31.680 -->
00:20:33.839
I told him we needed to go have an assessment.
00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:43.359
He and I needed as a team together, together, to make sure that you know our cognitive uh uh impairment or or that our memory was on point.
00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:45.599
So that was slick, that was slick, Pastor.
00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:46.720
That was a good angle.
00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:50.960
I learned they call when you have to tell fibs, they call that a therapeutic lie.
00:20:51.119 --> 00:20:51.279
Yeah.
00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:55.440
So I call him the lie of love of like I'm I'm lying because I love you.
00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:57.359
Absolutely, absolutely therapeutic lie.
00:20:57.519 --> 00:20:57.759
I like that.
00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:02.720
So finally he got this definitive diagnosis that he was living with Alzheimer's.
00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:03.200
Okay.
00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:07.839
Uh, you know, he never accepted it, but I knew what he was living with.
00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:13.440
And I began to study again, as I said, I took a caregiver um course.
00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:19.839
They were doing a clinical trial study on caregivers and how you should care for someone uh through Emery.
00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:20.319
Uh here.
00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:20.880
Really?
00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:21.599
Georgia.
00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:26.160
And I found it online and I enrolled and was accepted in that clinical trial study.
00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:36.559
So I was able to see what, you know, what the professionals are trying to understand as far as caregiving uh with your loved one on the uh with this disease.
00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:44.319
I gotta tell you, Pastor, I'm sure you've heard this before, but the angle that you took on this thing as a caregiver is atypical.
00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:46.160
You went all research on them.
00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:49.680
You went research, intellectual, educational.
00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:52.240
I want statistics, I want numbers.
00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:53.119
Absolutely.
00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:54.319
You weren't playing around.
00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:56.720
You're like, don't just hold my hand and give me some tissue.
00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:59.519
Tell me what is happening and what it is.
00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.680
Definitively that I can do.
00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:02.559
Well, absolutely.
00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:04.960
That's But then I found just what you said.
00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:08.079
The health professionals really don't know about caregiving.
00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:09.279
What does the doctor do?
00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:11.039
The doctor makes the diagnosis.
00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:12.720
The nurse, what does she do?
00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:17.440
She takes the vitals and gives the injections of the medication.
00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:20.160
And what does the CNA do or the caregiver?
00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:23.359
Like you said, she cleans you up and feeds you and do all of that.
00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:31.920
But when
it comes to that bedside manner or that understanding that you have to love your loved one with dignity, compassion, respect, and honor because they deserve it.
00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:33.920
Not because they want it, they deserve it.
00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:34.640
They deserve it.
00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:36.400
And so that's the angle that I took.
00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:46.000
And I realized, like I said, when I had to have a caregiver as he went through the stages to come in and help me care for him, I realized that she didn't know either.
00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:49.440
And I asked her, Were you certified in dementia care?
00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:49.839
No.
00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:50.160
No.
00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:54.400
They just sent out a caregiver to take care, feeding them, and doing that stuff.
00:22:54.559 --> 00:23:00.240
And so eventually, though, during the journey, as the stages went on, I had to place my husband at a long-term care facility.
00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:00.720
Okay.
00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:01.680
Was it in Chicago?
00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:02.720
Did y'all stay in Chicago?
00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:04.319
In the south-up of Chicago.
00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:04.799
Okay.
00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:13.599
Um, and I realized again that the caregivers there did not know how to care for my husband.
00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:15.519
So professional caregivers.
00:23:16.319 --> 00:23:18.640
I want to go ahead and I want to make this real clear.
00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:21.839
No, professional caregivers may or may not.
00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:26.400
Parenting up community, listen to Pastor and Jay Smiles.
00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:32.319
Professional caregivers may or may not have dementia expertise.
00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:38.559
And that is a very critical question to ask of the agency or the facility.
00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:41.200
It could be a memory care facility.
00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:46.720
That doesn't mean that the people, the caretakers there have been trained in dementia.
00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:48.480
And that is infuriating to me.
00:23:48.559 --> 00:23:54.400
How are you gonna be in a memory care facility and your people don't know what to do with somebody whose memory ain't right?
00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:58.480
Come on, I got you on my side because that's probably paying me.
00:23:59.039 --> 00:24:00.400
I gotta pay extra money.
00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:04.319
When you put memory care in front of the facility, that's another couple thousand dollars.
00:24:04.640 --> 00:24:09.920
What am I paying for if these people don't have substantially more training?
00:24:10.160 --> 00:24:10.880
They don't.
00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:12.000
They do not.
00:24:12.079 --> 00:24:12.400
Yeah.
00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:19.599
So I went in to this memory care facility, and I says, My name is Pastor Jeanette Jordan.
00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:20.799
My husband is Dr.
00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:21.599
Robert Jordan.
00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:22.720
You will call him Dr.
00:24:22.799
--> 00:24:23.279
Robert Jordan.
00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:24.480
I know that's because that's who he is.
00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:25.599
Get them straight.
00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:29.680
My husband is not to stay in his room medicated all day.
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.880
You are to take my husband out so he can socialize and be a part of the activities that you provide.
00:24:35.039 --> 00:24:38.559
Whether he knows or whether he can do it or not, let's let him be in the midst.
00:24:38.720 --> 00:24:39.200
That's right.
00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:43.920
You're going to feed him three times a day, and you're gonna I want you to make sure that he eats.
00:24:44.079 --> 00:24:55.759
I mean, I laid out what my expectations were of how they were gonna care for my husband, and I kept the role as lead caregiver, although he was in that memory care facility.
00:24:55.839 --> 00:24:58.559
You cannot do anything with my husband until you call me.
00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:03.440
I mean, the doctor said I don't want you changing his medication until you ask me if that's okay.
00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:06.720
And so that was the respect that they gave me.
00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:08.960
How did you know to do that, Pastor Jeanette?
00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:19.440
How did you know to take that type of ownership over what was happening with your husband in a facility when technically you didn't work there?
00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:22.079
Hey, that was my husband of 58 years.
00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:23.359
Girl, you better give it to me.
00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:25.519
I know that's another hand clap.
00:25:25.839 --> 00:25:27.599
It wasn't, it wasn't, I didn't have to think about that.
00:25:27.839 --> 00:25:28.880
That came natural from the city.
00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:29.920
That just came natural.
00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:30.799
That was God given.
00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:33.519
God said you have to take control because this is your husband.
00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:36.400
And I loved him uh more than life itself.
00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:39.279
And I was just gonna make sure that he was taken care of.
00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:44.079
But I wasn't I didn't take him to that lawn care term facility to drop him off, though.
00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:47.119
I I didn't take him there and just say, okay, you guys do this.
00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:48.079
You better speak on it.
00:25:48.240 --> 00:25:49.119
And I'm gonna go on back home.
00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:52.319
And that's what I was there every day.
00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:53.359
I know that's right.
00:25:53.599 --> 00:25:58.960
And I looked at those caregivers professional and those that were not so professional.
00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:03.839
I looked at them as the people that helped me care for my husband.
00:26:04.079 --> 00:26:08.079
An extension of your absolutely, absolutely.
00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:12.640
And so I that's why I learned that they really didn't know how to care for my husband.
00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:13.039
Okay.
00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:17.440
They didn't know that you can't come in and say, How do you feel this morning, Dr.
00:26:17.599 --> 00:26:18.079
Jordan?
00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:20.319
You don't know.
00:26:20.559 --> 00:26:20.880
Right.
00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:22.640
You know what hurts?
00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:24.079
Are you hungry?
00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:26.079
Do you have to go to the bathroom?
00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:27.359
He doesn't know that.
00:26:27.519 --> 00:26:32.240
You are supposed to be able to know how to communicate with my husband.
00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:34.720
There was a point in time my husband forgot how to eat.
00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:35.920
He forgot how to swallow.
00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:39.039
They will get to that in going through the stages.
00:26:39.279 --> 00:26:41.839
They immediately wanted to put in a feeding tube.
00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:43.599
That ain't happening.
00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:45.119
I don't want a feeding tube.
00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:49.839
If my husband is at the stage where he needs a feeding tube, then I'm just keeping him alive for me.
00:26:50.160 --> 00:26:51.920
He's not gonna be a viable person.
00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:55.279
No, I want to that is such a selfless point of view.
00:26:55.519 --> 00:26:56.160
Do you know that?
00:26:56.240 --> 00:26:57.839
You might not even know it because that's who you are.
00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:07.039
It's such a selfless point of view to say, well, if he needs a feeding tube, then he's existing just for me.
00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:08.000
Yes.
00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:08.960
That's deep.
00:27:09.039 --> 00:27:10.240
Yes, that's deep, Pastor.
00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:14.000
So I'm gonna teach him because I don't think that he is at that point.
00:27:14.160 --> 00:27:14.400
Okay.
00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:16.079
I'm gonna teach him how to eat.
00:27:16.319 --> 00:27:16.559
All right.
00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:18.640
I'm gonna teach him how to swallow.
00:27:19.039 --> 00:27:21.359
And they kept saying, oh, well, he's not gonna happen.
00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:22.160
It's not gonna happen.
00:27:22.319 --> 00:27:23.440
I said, well, watch.
00:27:23.680 --> 00:27:23.839
Right.
00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:25.039
How'd you do it?
00:27:25.279 --> 00:27:29.759
I remembered how he had his babies as a pediatrician to eat.
00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:30.240
Okay.
00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:31.119
Or to swallow.
00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:32.559
You better full circle that day.
00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:33.839
I made a full circle, baby.
00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:36.559
I became I became his pediatrician.
00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:38.240
Although he's not a baby.
00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:43.119
But I was using some of the techniques that I saw him use to get his babies to eat.
00:27:43.359 --> 00:27:53.759
So when I would put uh food on a uh a spoon to his mouth and he would not open his mouth, I then would take something sweet and put it on the tip, like we did.
00:27:54.400 --> 00:27:59.119
Let the little nerd
taste that, and he opened up the over pep mouth and I shove it on him.
00:27:59.519 --> 00:28:04.240
And then I would rub his Adam's apples, and that would give you a swallowing reflex.
00:28:04.400 --> 00:28:04.640
Okay.
00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:06.319
And he began to swallow.
00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:07.680
And I would take my time.
00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:15.119
One of the things I learned in the long-term care facility, they don't have the staff and they don't have the time that my husband needed for you to feed him.
00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:15.440
Okay.
00:28:15.599 --> 00:28:20.799
It took me almost an hour sometimes to get him to eat a full plate of food.
00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:22.000
But I had the time.
00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:22.559
That's right.
00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:27.680
So I sit there and I took my time and finally he learned that.
00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:31.359
And then I've learned to, then I started to put the spoon in his hand.
00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:31.680
Okay.
00:28:31.839 --> 00:28:44.480
And I started to put his hand in the food and using some of the Tippy Snow, who is well known in the Alzheimer's arena with the mini techniques, I used her hand under, uh, over hand to help feed him.
00:28:44.640 --> 00:28:44.880
Right.
00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:49.200
And then he learned the reflex, and he began to start doing it himself.
00:28:49.359 --> 00:28:52.160
The next thing you know, my husband was eating himself.
00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:54.960
And feeding himself and feeding himself.
00:28:55.119 --> 00:28:56.960
And what did the staff say?
00:28:57.279 --> 00:29:01.759
They just said they were like, hey, I don't know.
00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:03.359
What did you do?
00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:16.640
I was able to get my husband enough nutrition in his body to be able now to come out of that lying position, that you know, that catatonic state almost.
00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:17.200
Absolutely.
00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:20.640
Uh, to sitting up in his bed, to drinking.
00:29:20.880 --> 00:29:24.079
Another one of the things I found out that they don't give him enough water.
00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:27.680
Oh, I'd rather you wait for wait for him to say, I'm thirsty before you give him some water.
00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:28.319
He can't see it.
00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:33.119
You can't wait for a person with a dementia to ask for anything.
00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:33.440
No.
00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:34.160
Nothing.
00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:34.480
Nothing.
00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:39.279
Not not a tissue, not to wipe their nose, not I gotta go to the bathroom, I gotta eat.
00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:40.640
Now I gotta scratch.
00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:45.920
Like you, you just every so often, I just walk up to my mom and I just start rubbing all over.
00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:53.119
I rub her head, I twigle up with her ears, I scratch her side, because I don't know if something is itching.
00:29:53.440 --> 00:29:54.079
Absolutely.
00:29:54.319 --> 00:29:57.839
And you know, if she squirms away from me, then I stop.
00:29:58.079 --> 00:30:00.960
But if she don't squirm, then I didn't hit a good spot.
00:30:01.119 --> 00:30:01.359
Absolutely.
00:30:01.599 --> 00:30:04.240
And I'ma just keep scratching or rubbing.
00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:08.079
That is extraordinary, that that angle that you took.
00:30:08.319 --> 00:30:11.839
But that but in doing so, I just started doing so many other things.
00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:12.319
Okay.
00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:21.039
You know, uh, making sure that he went to the activities uh uh uh room, making sure that he participated in whatever they were doing.
00:30:21.200 --> 00:30:22.799
I played cards with him.
00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:26.720
Uh although he didn't even know what kind of card game we were playing.
00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:27.279
That's right.
00:30:27.359 --> 00:30:32.400
Uh, whatever he did, if I put a card down, I said, put that card down, and he would put the card down, I said, Oh, you won.
00:30:32.559 --> 00:30:32.720
Right.
00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:33.920
You know, we played.
00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:38.880
It did not matter whether it was the right thing, but it just kept him doing something.
00:30:39.359 --> 00:30:39.519
Right.
00:30:39.759 --> 00:30:40.799
Using his hands.
00:30:41.039 --> 00:30:41.279
Right.
00:30:41.599 --> 00:30:42.079
His arms.
00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:42.640
Right.
00:30:43.279 --> 00:30:45.359
I would give him a uh a napkin on the table.
00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:46.720
I said, baby, let's fold this up.
00:30:46.799 --> 00:30:48.079
We need to fold this napkin up.
00:30:48.160 --> 00:30:52.799
And just he attempted to do that to make him feel like he was worth something.
00:30:52.960 --> 00:31:07.839
So after trying all this stuff, I said, you know what, there are other caregivers out there that are fumbling around with no one to help, and they're not being the best that they could be as a caregiver for their loved ones.
00:31:07.920 --> 00:31:08.079
Right.
00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:13.279
And they're willing to learn if there's someone to teach them.
00:31:13.519 --> 00:31:17.759
I realized that I'm helping people are not calling me and saying, How did you get him to do that?
00:31:17.839 --> 00:31:18.880
How did you get him to do that?
00:31:19.039 --> 00:31:19.200
Right.
00:31:19.359 --> 00:31:20.880
And I would tell them my little tricks.
00:31:20.960 --> 00:31:22.240
I said, you know what?
00:31:22.559 --> 00:31:28.480
I need to first write a book about my experiences and what I went through.
00:31:28.720 --> 00:31:29.359
And I did that.
00:31:29.680 --> 00:31:31.759
Journey of Compassion is my book.
00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:32.559
Yes.
00:31:33.119 --> 00:31:39.119
After after I did that, I said, I need to establish a business or something.
00:31:39.279 --> 00:31:40.640
I didn't even know what it was gonna be.
00:31:40.880 --> 00:31:45.839
So I could teach, so I would be a voice, I could be an advocate for caregivers.
00:31:46.160 --> 00:31:46.480
Right.
00:31:46.799 --> 00:31:49.119
So I I God gave it to me.
00:31:49.359 --> 00:31:51.519
In my dream one night, it it came to me.
00:31:51.839 --> 00:31:53.279
Dementia dignified a cat.
00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:56.640
And your husband was still he was still with us.
00:31:57.680 --> 00:32:09.759
So I just I just want everybody that is watching or listening to really digest that while her husband was still here, she is training other caregivers.
00:32:10.079 --> 00:32:10.559
Absolutely.
00:32:10.880 --> 00:32:15.440
And she decided to start her foundation.
00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:16.559
It's a nonprofit, correct?
00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:17.279
It's a nonprofit.
00:32:17.440 --> 00:32:22.880
It's a nonprofit foundation, and he was still here because of how much you wanted to serve.
00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:26.240
That's just naturally who you are, is to serve.
00:32:26.480 --> 00:32:31.680
And Dementia Dignified Academy, I gotta tell you, DDA, that sounds a lot like a doctor.
00:32:31.839 --> 00:32:33.920
It sounds like a medical thing.
00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:39.359
You know, DD something, usually DDS, DDM, it's a doctor of something.
00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:43.839
So it sounds fancy and expertise even before you started doing stuff.
00:32:44.079 --> 00:32:45.039
Oh well, thank you.
00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:46.319
But God gave that to me.
00:32:46.400 --> 00:32:46.559
Yeah.
00:32:46.799 --> 00:32:54.400
Dementia Dignified Academy, because I wanted to teach caregivers to care for their loved ones with dementia, with dignity.
00:32:54.559 --> 00:32:54.960
Yes.
00:32:55.119 --> 00:32:56.559
And so that's what I did.
00:32:56.720 --> 00:32:59.119
And I I didn't know how it was gonna go.
00:32:59.279 --> 00:33:06.160
Um, my business partner, Michelle Mason, who is my right hand, she's my spiritual daughter.
00:33:06.319 --> 00:33:08.240
I couldn't do this thing without her.
00:33:08.400 --> 00:33:08.640
Okay.
00:33:08.799 --> 00:33:12.720
But she is the one that helps to write the modules for the academy.
00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:22.160
She's the one that goes out with me and we we teach caregivers the practical side of teaching a caregiver how to interact with their loved one.
00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:27.839
Or we do workshops to tell them about the stages that they the loved one may go through.
00:33:28.400 --> 00:33:33.279
Or we go to churches and senior care facilities to tell people what to look out for.
00:33:33.440 --> 00:33:33.599
Okay.
00:33:33.759 --> 00:33:35.759
Uh to give them the warning signs.
00:33:35.839 --> 00:33:40.960
I mean, I know the Alzheimer's Association does the same thing, but we wanted to go in our community that looks like us.
00:33:41.119 --> 00:33:41.680
That's right.
00:33:41.839 --> 00:33:43.839
That's a look like useful.
00:33:44.880 --> 00:33:47.599
See people that look like us, we tend to listen.
00:33:47.839 --> 00:33:49.279
We trust one another.
00:33:49.440 --> 00:33:50.160
We're community.
00:33:50.559 --> 00:33:55.759
We
have a lot of reason not to trust people who don't look like us, even if there might be a good one coming along.
00:33:56.640 --> 00:34:04.559
Dementia, uh, Alzheimer's, which is what you and I have experienced the most, it is so unrelenting and so painful.
00:34:04.720 --> 00:34:09.280
And even as a caregiver, you're in denial, like you were initially with your husband.
00:34:09.519 --> 00:34:11.360
Um, I was with my mom.
00:34:11.519 --> 00:34:13.599
You're in denial, you're in pain.
00:34:13.679 --> 00:34:15.760
Yes, okay, you're you're hurting.
00:34:16.320 --> 00:34:28.639
And then if the physician or the agency or the facility that you're dealing with adds any type of discomfort or discontent, you can't take it.
00:34:28.800 --> 00:34:36.960
Like as a caregiver, you're already barely, barely, I mean, you barely got your head above water.
00:34:37.039 --> 00:34:39.760
You're like gasping for air, you're doing your best.
00:34:41.599 --> 00:34:50.559
And it helps when you know not only that there's someone that looks like you, but then there's someone that's also having this same experience.
00:34:50.719 --> 00:35:04.159
They've either lived it recently or they're currently in it, and you can talk out, talk because as um, and I and I say this because I I have uh the podcast is now, praise the Lord, and the community, we're global.
00:35:04.400 --> 00:35:07.840
And so everybody black all over the world ain't like black Americans.
00:35:07.920 --> 00:35:10.800
And I tell them, what I know how to do is be a black American.
00:35:10.960 --> 00:35:20.800
Now I am open to you teaching me about your cultures in Ghana or in Lisbon and what the black community needs, but I know how to speak black American.
00:35:20.960 --> 00:35:28.719
I know what it means when my grandmother or my mother uh says my first and middle name.
00:35:28.960 --> 00:35:30.159
Janae Marielle.
00:35:30.239 --> 00:35:31.360
That's my that's my legal name.
00:35:31.440 --> 00:35:35.760
If they say that, I gotta hush and say yes, because I'm about to be in trouble.
00:35:35.840 --> 00:35:39.519
Like there's a certain code for how we live and how we speak.
00:35:39.760 --> 00:35:43.199
And there's a certain way we love on our elders.
00:35:43.519 --> 00:35:48.800
We try really hard to see them or go see them or keep them with us.
00:35:48.880 --> 00:35:57.920
We might move them from the brother to the cousin to the auntie, and this man didn't move like every two months for two years, but he went to family.
00:35:58.320 --> 00:36:00.079
And sometimes that's positive.
00:36:00.239 --> 00:36:06.559
But the point is it's always the effort that we're willing to put in to do better.
00:36:06.719 --> 00:36:17.199
And so when you started Dementor Dignified Academy, you gave people a lifeline, Pastor, so that they can learn faster.
00:36:17.280 --> 00:36:17.840
Yeah, right?
00:36:17.920 --> 00:36:23.280
They don't have to make as many mistakes maybe as you and I made coming up through this
thing.
00:36:24.079 --> 00:36:33.199
But let me tell you this is in our community, yeah, we don't want to talk about dementia or old timers as they used to be.
00:36:33.440 --> 00:36:42.880
Old timers or um you go and see now, you don't want us, because I remember someone telling me this about my mom.
00:36:43.199 --> 00:36:45.199
Your mom's not losing her mind.
00:36:45.360 --> 00:36:56.960
Like they have decided that some kind of way, Alzheimer's means you are losing your mind as though that's something to be embarrassed about.
00:36:57.119 --> 00:36:57.519
Right.
00:36:58.159 --> 00:37:00.480
Like she could have helped it, right?
00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:00.719
Yeah.
00:37:00.800 --> 00:37:03.360
And I'm like, I don't feel that way at all.
00:37:03.440 --> 00:37:05.599
I don't think my mom is losing her mind.
00:37:05.760 --> 00:37:07.920
Her her brain doesn't work the same.
00:37:08.079 --> 00:37:08.639
Absolutely.
00:37:08.800 --> 00:37:13.119
But but but we're just a a culture that what goes on in the Jordan House stays in the Jordan.
00:37:13.599 --> 00:37:14.880
But we don't want to talk about that.
00:37:15.119 --> 00:37:15.440
That's true.
00:37:15.599 --> 00:37:23.679
So what we what I what we teach our caregivers or the communities that we go in to talk about this beast of a disease, this boad.
00:37:23.840 --> 00:37:24.000
Yeah.
00:37:24.159 --> 00:37:28.559
We teach them that you cannot, we are our brothers and sisters keeper.
00:37:28.880 --> 00:37:31.119
So you cannot not talk about it.
00:37:31.199 --> 00:37:31.440
Correct.
00:37:31.679 --> 00:37:43.920
Come out of your house like I did and talk about the struggles and what I saw and how I had to go and find uh what was going on and how I had to research so I could be a better uh caregiver.
00:37:44.239 --> 00:37:48.800
Even in the uh senior suites or the uh senior communities that we go out.
00:37:48.960 --> 00:37:55.440
So if you see your girlfriend or your next door neighbor wandering around the building, you know, don't just say she's crazy.
00:37:55.840 --> 00:37:57.679
You know, look at her wandering around the building.
00:37:57.760 --> 00:37:59.440
It could be something wrong.
00:37:59.679 --> 00:38:04.079
So if you don't know her family, tell whoever the management is in that building.
00:38:04.159 --> 00:38:06.639
You know, my next door neighbor is wandering around the building.
00:38:06.719 --> 00:38:10.960
Maybe you better tell her family, you know, maybe she does some cognitive decline.
00:38:11.360 --> 00:38:12.880
So take accountability for that.
00:38:13.039 --> 00:38:16.159
So we, you know, we're just trying to open up the eyes of our community.
00:38:16.400 --> 00:38:20.800
And I think we're doing a real, real awesome, awesome you are.
00:38:21.119 --> 00:38:21.679
I heard it.
00:38:21.840 --> 00:38:24.559
I heard you doing it when I didn't even know who you were.
00:38:24.800 --> 00:38:26.960
That was not an African-American I was talking to.
00:38:27.199 --> 00:38:28.000
Sounded like it.
00:38:28.159 --> 00:38:39.280
This woman, this woman found uh Dementia Dignified Academy Support Group because we have a support group that we uh do, and now we do it every fourth Thursday of the month virtually.
00:38:39.599 --> 00:38:41.440
Virtually, so you don't have to be in Chicago.
00:38:41.679 --> 00:38:45.360
Anyone this woman was from Georgia because I was here doing it.
00:38:45.519 --> 00:38:46.480
She was from Georgia.
00:38:46.639 --> 00:38:46.880
Okay.
00:38:47.039 --> 00:38:49.199
And she was looking for support.
00:38:49.440 --> 00:38:49.679
Right.
00:38:49.840 --> 00:38:54.880
And of course, we were at the altar program, so the support that we have here was for the black community.
00:38:55.039 --> 00:38:55.280
Right.
00:38:55.519 --> 00:38:59.199
But I did not leave her without helping her.
00:38:59.440 --> 00:39:02.239
Do you know that woman is on my support group every fourth eight?
00:39:02.480 --> 00:39:02.800
I love it.
00:39:03.039 --> 00:39:08.639
And her husband is going through dementia, and he's able to be on the support group with her.
00:39:08.800 --> 00:39:09.920
He's in his early stage.
00:39:10.079 --> 00:39:10.559
That's phenomenal.
00:39:10.880 --> 00:39:17.119
He was concerned about her going through this journey with him as his caregiver.
00:39:17.440 --> 00:39:19.039
And it's so very interesting.
00:39:19.760 --> 00:39:27.199
It's so very interesting for us to watch him because we're, if she keeps with us, we're gonna see him go through the stages.
00:39:27.360 --> 00:39:27.679
Right.
00:39:27.920 --> 00:39:34.159
And he's just now looking at her and applauding what she's doing, you know, for him.
00:39:34.480 --> 00:39:43.440
So I had to help her on that day because that's why she called that number, uh, got jumped on that Zoom support line because she needed help.
00:39:43.519 --> 00:39:47.760
And I know how I needed that same kind of help when I was starting out.
00:39:47.920 --> 00:39:49.039
So did I.
00:39:49.280 --> 00:39:49.920
I'm telling you.
00:39:50.239 --> 00:39:50.880
So did I.
00:39:51.039 --> 00:39:59.199
But there is nowhere that I go and I talk about what I do, that someone will know somebody that's going through this disease.
00:39:59.440 --> 00:40:00.079
And lost.
00:40:00.239 --> 00:40:00.719
And lost.
00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:02.960
Going through it and lost.
00:40:03.360 --> 00:40:04.079
Absolutely.
00:40:04.400 --> 00:40:10.880
But as God is our witness, we're not gonna be as lost for much longer.
00:40:11.039 --> 00:40:18.000
Because between dignified dementia academy and the parenting up community, what we're gonna do is we're gonna keep telling stories.
00:40:18.559 --> 00:40:39.840
We're gonna get the word out, we're gonna make sure that people know that there's a community, there are multiple communities that are attacking this same issue, which is you're a family caregiver, you don't have any training in dementia or dementia-related diseases, and all
of a sudden, somebody that you love a lot is suffering.
00:40:40.159 --> 00:40:42.559
And what in the heck am I going to do?
00:40:42.800 --> 00:40:44.000
But let me, I want to say this.
00:40:44.159 --> 00:40:44.320
Yes.
00:40:44.960 --> 00:40:48.880
I don't like to say that the person with the disease is suffering because they don't know.
00:40:49.039 --> 00:40:50.719
It's the caregiver that's suffering.
00:40:51.039 --> 00:40:52.159
I received that.
00:40:52.559 --> 00:40:53.440
I received that.
00:40:53.599 --> 00:40:54.159
They don't know that.
00:40:54.239 --> 00:40:54.960
They don't even know the thing.
00:40:55.119 --> 00:40:57.360
We're looking at it and we're sad, but they're not suffering.
00:40:57.679 --> 00:40:58.559
They're not in pain.
00:40:58.800 --> 00:41:00.639
But we need the caregiver.
00:41:01.119 --> 00:41:01.519
We're suffering.
00:41:01.840 --> 00:41:02.639
We're suffering double.
00:41:02.800 --> 00:41:05.920
We're suffering for them, for us, for what we thought we might have.
00:41:06.239 --> 00:41:06.719
Absolutely.
00:41:06.960 --> 00:41:13.679
So out of this whole thing, I've I was I've I uh my husband made his transition August 11th, 2023.
00:41:13.920 --> 00:41:14.239
Okay.
00:41:14.559 --> 00:41:15.119
Guess what?
00:41:15.199 --> 00:41:17.840
I had prepared myself for that transition.
00:41:18.159 --> 00:41:19.519
I had read about it.
00:41:19.679 --> 00:41:24.000
I already know that there is no reversal because we don't have a cure.
00:41:24.079 --> 00:41:24.159
Right.
00:41:24.400 --> 00:41:27.599
Although they're working very hard to find a cure.
00:41:27.840 --> 00:41:29.280
You knew nothing would help your husband.
00:41:29.519 --> 00:41:34.159
But I knew nothing would help, and I knew the end was going to be the end stage.
00:41:34.320 --> 00:41:34.559
Yeah.
00:41:34.800 --> 00:41:46.880
And so when he was going through his transition, I was able to prepare the room, prepare him, and prepare all of us in that room for his peaceful, loving transition.
00:41:47.039 --> 00:41:49.440
I brought in uh essential oil.
00:41:49.519 --> 00:41:51.280
So we used aromatherapy.
00:41:51.360 --> 00:41:54.960
I brought in soft music and familiar music to him.
00:41:55.199 --> 00:41:59.119
We prayed, we sang, we laughed and all of that.
00:41:59.360 --> 00:41:59.920
That is divine.
00:42:00.239 --> 00:42:04.559
When he took his last breath, I all I could say was enjoy the journey, honey.
00:42:04.719 --> 00:42:04.880
Yeah.
00:42:05.039 --> 00:42:08.400
And because I found purpose in my pain.
00:42:08.559 --> 00:42:08.800
Yeah.
00:42:08.960 --> 00:42:12.159
And that purpose was now you were sacrificed.
00:42:12.239 --> 00:42:12.880
That's how I felt.
00:42:12.960 --> 00:42:29.280
My husband was sacrificed so that I could hear God's voice saying, You've been anointed and appointed to start this nonprofit to teach caregivers on how to care for their loved ones with the love and dignity and compassion uh that that your loved one deserves.
00:42:29.599 --> 00:42:31.199
So that's what we're that's what we're about.
00:42:31.280 --> 00:42:32.320
So we train caregivers.
00:42:32.559 --> 00:42:40.800
They come to us and we train them on what to look for, what's happening with the brain, with the amyloid plaque and the toe and all of the neurons, all of that.
00:42:40.880 --> 00:42:41.519
We we tell them.
00:42:41.920 --> 00:42:42.719
We give them some science.
00:42:42.880 --> 00:42:43.679
Yeah, it's a disease.
00:42:43.760 --> 00:42:50.800
So we have to understand it's a disease like cancer is a disease, diabetes is a disease, dementia is a disease.
00:42:51.039 --> 00:42:52.159
Alzheimer's is a disease.
00:42:52.400 --> 00:43:02.639
So once you get that in your mind, then the arguing that you are doing, the the the just not understanding and fussing back and forth and getting frustrated becomes different.
00:43:03.039 --> 00:43:04.000
It becomes different.
00:43:04.159 --> 00:43:08.480
And you begin to talk to your loved one as though uh you get on in their world.
00:43:08.719 --> 00:43:09.039
That's right.
00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:12.960
My husband was in our world for what, 58 years of my life.
00:43:13.199 --> 00:43:13.599
Right.
00:43:13.840 --> 00:43:18.800
Now I'm gonna step off into his world and care for him from that vantage point.
00:43:18.960 --> 00:43:20.079
And so that's what I did.
00:43:20.320 --> 00:43:20.880
Perfection.
00:43:21.039 --> 00:43:21.679
That's what I did.
00:43:21.840 --> 00:43:22.400
That is perfection.
00:43:22.559 --> 00:43:25.360
And I knew when he's winched, something was hurting.
00:43:25.440 --> 00:43:25.679
That's right.
00:43:25.920 --> 00:43:29.360
And I remembered that, okay, he had arthritis in his knees.
00:43:29.519 --> 00:43:31.760
Maybe his knee is hurting, but he's not able to tell me that.
00:43:31.840 --> 00:43:33.679
And I was able, like you said, to massage his knee.
00:43:33.840 --> 00:43:33.920
Yeah.
00:43:34.079 --> 00:43:36.559
Put some start moving around or touch his stomach.
00:43:36.639 --> 00:43:37.760
Maybe he has to go to the bathroom.
00:43:37.920 --> 00:43:38.239
That's correct.
00:43:38.400 --> 00:43:40.239
Can you take my husband to the washroom, please?
00:43:40.320 --> 00:43:40.400
Right.
00:43:40.559 --> 00:43:43.599
I begin to know all of the facial features and all of the movement.
00:43:43.679 --> 00:43:44.400
So that's what we tell.
00:43:44.719 --> 00:43:45.599
They do have tails.
00:43:45.760 --> 00:43:46.320
Oh, yeah.
00:43:46.480 --> 00:43:53.679
That the Alzheimer's patients, they don't like it's not the people with Alzheimer's, they're not necessarily a poker body.
00:43:53.760 --> 00:43:55.840
They might have a poker face, but not a poker body.
00:43:55.920 --> 00:43:58.559
Something is gonna move or twitch.
00:43:58.639 --> 00:43:59.760
Like I have told everyone.
00:44:00.239 --> 00:44:00.639
Caregiver.
00:44:00.800 --> 00:44:06.880
If my mom is sitting and she starts because she's not a
squirmer, I say if she starts squirming, she has to go to the bathroom.
00:44:07.280 --> 00:44:11.440
Now, we don't know if it's number one or number two, but it may have already happened.
00:44:11.519 --> 00:44:13.360
But the point is, please get her up.
00:44:13.519 --> 00:44:14.000
That's right.
00:44:14.079 --> 00:44:15.519
And take her to the toilet.
00:44:15.679 --> 00:44:19.679
Like shit, immediately I don't care if she's eating, move the food.
00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:22.880
Because there's something happening right now in this moment.
00:44:23.039 --> 00:44:26.960
Pastor, I gotta tell you, it has been such a pleasure to have this conversation with you.
00:44:28.400 --> 00:44:30.239
And listen, I'm gonna need to have you back on.
00:44:30.400 --> 00:44:38.159
Maybe I gotta come to Chicago and we do uh an episode showing some of your tools and techniques.
00:44:38.480 --> 00:44:51.599
You have to let everyone in the PantherNap community know how they can get your book, how can they become a part of your virtual uh support group, or maybe even attend some of your live training sessions.
00:44:51.840 --> 00:44:55.920
Okay, because our next training is coming up on September the 26th in Chicago.
00:44:56.079 --> 00:44:56.400
Okay.
00:44:56.559 --> 00:45:02.239
Uh we will be training uh dementia certified specialists that we become DCSs.
00:45:02.400 --> 00:45:09.599
They get a certification, and for those professionals who need CEUs, they will get six CEUs for taking the course.
00:45:09.760 --> 00:45:13.440
Whoa! It's a seven, it's a six-hour course.
00:45:13.599 --> 00:45:16.000
So you're with us for practically all day.
00:45:16.079 --> 00:45:26.400
But when you leave, you will feel that you have been empowered to take care of your loved one, or you've been empowered if you are a caregiver uh working for a home health care agency.
00:45:26.719 --> 00:45:31.360
You have a whole different uh outlook on how to care for someone living with this disease.
00:45:31.519 --> 00:45:44.639
If you're looking for my book, Journey of Compassion, you just have to go to our website, which is www.dignifiedda.org, and you can search books and it'll pop up.
00:45:44.800 --> 00:45:45.920
Even that book of Dr.
00:45:46.000 --> 00:45:47.679
Jordan's is also online.
00:45:48.320 --> 00:45:50.480
They can pop up and find that there.
00:45:50.880 --> 00:45:53.760
Uh if they want the support group, that's also on our website.
00:45:53.840 --> 00:45:57.679
But it's every fourth Thursday of the month at 7 p.m.
00:45:58.000 --> 00:45:59.840
Eastern Standard Time, 6 p.m.
00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:01.280
Central Standard Time.
00:46:01.519 --> 00:46:03.199
Uh, for it's one hour.
00:46:03.360 --> 00:46:10.480
And we always try to have professionals on our show that has some uh something unique to tell us about this disease.
00:46:10.639 --> 00:46:17.440
Uh this month, we're having uh a young lady that's gonna come on to give us some breathing exercises.
00:46:17.519 --> 00:46:19.679
As caregivers, we need to learn how to relax.
00:46:19.840 --> 00:46:21.599
We need to have to breathe.
00:46:21.920 --> 00:46:22.960
We don't breathe well at all.
00:46:23.119 --> 00:46:26.800
We we are holding our breath more than we realize as caregivers.
00:46:27.440 --> 00:46:35.840
And we so because if you have to go like that, that means your body was going without the appropriate amount of oxygen for maybe two or three minutes.
00:46:36.000 --> 00:46:44.960
Now, it doesn't mean you were underwater, but it does mean that your lung capacity, everything, your brain, everything got truncated.
00:46:45.039 --> 00:46:45.280
Yes.
00:46:45.519 --> 00:46:48.960
So I just coming on, she's coming on and take us through those exercises.
00:46:49.199 --> 00:46:49.519
Okay.
00:46:49.679 --> 00:46:55.760
And then the following month, we're gonna have a uh a young man that's gonna come on and talk to us about the importance of respite care.
00:46:55.920 --> 00:46:56.159
Yes.
00:46:56.320 --> 00:47:01.119
Uh, caregivers need respite care, that you need to be able to get out and and do stuff for yourself.
00:47:01.280 --> 00:47:10.000
As I was caring for my husband, every Wednesday was my day to just get out, whether I'm sitting out in a place like this, uh-huh, or whether I'm going to get a manny or a petty.
00:47:10.239 --> 00:47:11.840
Uh but Wednesday was your day.
00:47:12.239 --> 00:47:12.719
Wednesday.
00:47:12.880 --> 00:47:17.440
Now, did you did someone suggest that to you or did you come up with that on your own?
00:47:17.679 --> 00:47:22.480
It was suggested along my way that I, well, that a caregiver needs care.
00:47:22.639 --> 00:47:22.800
Yes.
00:47:22.960 --> 00:47:24.800
So you decide what kind of care that you need.
00:47:24.960 --> 00:47:25.280
That's right.
00:47:25.599 --> 00:47:32.159
I also found myself a therapist because you need to be able to dump on somebody because I talked to my therapist this morning.
00:47:32.559 --> 00:47:33.360
Frustrating.
00:47:33.519 --> 00:47:36.880
And you can't deal with well, as a pastor, I'm used to listening to other people.
00:47:37.039 --> 00:47:37.199
Right.
00:47:37.360 --> 00:47:41.440
And I'm used to helping them through uh whatever they're going through.
00:47:41.599 --> 00:47:41.679
Right.
00:47:41.840 --> 00:47:44.320
And I realized quickly, I can I can't counsel myself.
00:47:44.400 --> 00:47:45.679
I I can't dump on myself.
00:47:45.760 --> 00:47:47.280
I need to dump out of myself.
00:47:47.440 --> 00:47:57.039
So I actually found a therapist that I would go to weekly that helped me through the process, helped me get from here to founding Dementia Dignified Academy.
00:47:57.119 --> 00:47:59.440
So that's what we encourage caregivers to do.
00:47:59.760 --> 00:48:02.480
Don't be so like you can handle it because you can't.
00:48:02.639 --> 00:48:03.199
You can't handle it.
00:48:03.280 --> 00:48:04.000
You can't handle all this.
00:48:04.639 --> 00:48:05.840
You don't know
what's coming next.
00:48:06.000 --> 00:48:07.280
You don't know what just happened.
00:48:07.360 --> 00:48:09.920
It's over, and you still are not quite sure.
00:48:10.079 --> 00:48:10.239
Yes.
00:48:10.400 --> 00:48:11.360
What did I just go through?
00:48:11.920 --> 00:48:13.920
Well, again, Pastor, it has been my pleasure.
00:48:14.159 --> 00:48:14.880
I love my honor.
00:48:15.519 --> 00:48:16.239
I love you too.
00:48:16.559 --> 00:48:18.559
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to tell my story.
00:48:18.800 --> 00:48:19.199
Of course.
00:48:19.360 --> 00:48:20.559
Your story is worth telling.
00:48:20.719 --> 00:48:21.199
Thank you.
00:48:21.360 --> 00:48:21.760
All right.
00:48:21.920 --> 00:48:22.880
God bless.
00:48:23.360 --> 00:48:24.639
The snuggle up.
00:48:27.440 --> 00:48:30.480
How wonderful is Pastor Jeanette Jordan?
00:48:30.960 --> 00:48:34.480
The lady just basically led with love.
00:48:34.639 --> 00:48:36.480
She didn't take no for an answer.
00:48:36.719 --> 00:48:39.840
It was a whole lot of stuff that she did not know.
00:48:40.559 --> 00:48:48.800
But it didn't stop her from giving her best effort and a whole lot of energy to make sure her husband was okay.
00:48:49.119 --> 00:48:57.519
My huge, huge takeaway from all of that is don't be limited by what your current knowledge is.
00:48:59.039 --> 00:48:59.840
So what?
00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:01.360
You haven't had training.
00:49:01.519 --> 00:49:02.000
So what?
00:49:02.079 --> 00:49:04.239
You don't know what Alzheimer's is.
00:49:04.480 --> 00:49:07.119
Neither does the person who has the disease.
00:49:07.440 --> 00:49:08.960
Get in there, do something.
00:49:09.039 --> 00:49:12.320
It's better to try something and make a few mistakes.
00:49:12.480 --> 00:49:20.079
Yes, she argued with her husband in the beginning because she didn't realize that he was now living in a different world.
00:49:20.400 --> 00:49:24.480
But as soon as she did, she modified her behavior.
00:49:25.199 --> 00:49:31.039
Overall, remember not to beat yourself up about what you don't know.
00:49:32.320 --> 00:49:43.199
Try something, ask questions, find dignified dementia academy, keep contacting us here at the Parenting Up community.
00:49:43.920 --> 00:49:45.599
We will make it through together.
00:49:45.760 --> 00:49:48.400
All silence is heavy, but we ain't gotta be.
00:49:48.719 --> 00:49:50.239
Thank you for tuning in.
00:49:50.400 --> 00:49:54.639
I mean, really, really, really thank you so very much for tuning in.
00:49:54.880 --> 00:50:02.880
Whether you're watching this on YouTube or if you're listening on your favorite podcast audio platform.
00:50:03.119 --> 00:50:06.159
Either way, wherever you are, subscribe.
00:50:06.400 --> 00:50:07.119
Come back.
00:50:07.280 --> 00:50:10.400
That's the way you're gonna know when we do something next.
00:50:10.639 --> 00:50:11.440
Y'all know how it is.
00:50:11.519 --> 00:50:12.559
I'm Jay Smiles.
00:50:12.639 --> 00:50:15.360
I might just drop something hot in the middle of the night.