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The views, stories, and opinions shared on caregiving and conversations are my own.
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The experiences I discuss are personal and honest reflections of my caregiving journey and genuine feelings.
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They are shared with transparency and authenticity and should never be interpreted as a lack of love, respect, or care for my loved ones.
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The views, stories, and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of caregiving and conversations or its hosts.
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The experiences and information shared are intended for educational and informational purposes only.
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They are not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
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Always seek the guidance of your physician or another qualified health care provider regarding any medical condition or health-related concerns.
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Thank you for listening and welcome to Caregiving and Conversations.
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Welcome to Caregiving and Conversations with Ms.
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Tiffun Filtered.
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Come on in, have a seat.
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Let's chat.
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How's everyone doing out there?
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All right, everybody's fine.
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Oh, remember we're not using the word fine.
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So that brings me to uh my two-word check-in.
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Two-word check-in means we are being intentional about how we are feeling, but we're not using the word fine.
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Today I'm going to say, um, I'm blessed.
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And I am actually tired.
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Uh, I was at work at a work conference last week, and travel just was not my friend.
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Um, and I have not had much sleep, and I've just been on the go.
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So, and it's rainy here, so I just kind of want to lay up on the couch and watch football and read a book and nap.
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But, anyways, that's gonna happen as soon as I get done cooking.
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Um, but I hope you all had a chance to watch last week's episode with Latanya, where she is a mother, a wife, a caregiver, an entrepreneur.
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Um, and it was a really great conversation where we just kind of um talked about the many roles that she actually wears in the caring for her mom and how she juggles um all those different hats and how she's actually in the process of opening up Teresa's Place, which is an adult daycare center.
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So if you have not had the opportunity, I strongly suggest that you go watch last week's episode.
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It's actually a really good one.
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It's it's probably one of my favorites.
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I have a couple of favorites.
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Caregiving isn't always just about the the sadness.
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Um, once you're in it, you have to still live your life and you have to find things to laugh about and and and adjust, right?
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There's a lot of times I would say my new normal, my new normal, or gotta pivot, gotta pivot, gotta pivot.
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And so there's a lot of that that takes place um in that episode.
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So if you haven't had the opportunity, go back.
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Also, don't forget to subscribe.
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It's free to subscribe, just hit that little button.
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It might say subscribe, it might say join.
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I don't know what it says.
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Um, but I want you to uh subscribe.
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That way you're not missing any of the episodes that come out on Tuesdays.
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Yes, on Tuesdays.
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And share it.
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Uh tell a friend to tell a friend.
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If you are a caregiver, if you know someone that's a caregiver, um chances are we're gonna be a caregiver at some point in our life, whether it is for two hours out of the day, two days, two weeks, it doesn't matter.
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At some point in our life, we are all going to be a caregiver, even if we're caring for ourselves.
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All right.
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So good information in um while you're watching caregiving and conversations.
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Um, I'm getting ready to be a little vulnerable right here.
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Uh, this I wasn't sure if I was going to share it.
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This is almost kind of like a therapy session that I'm having with you all.
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Um, and I talk a lot about my mom having multiple sclerosis, and that is how I became a caregiver.
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One thing about multiple sclerosis is there are multiple symptoms that come along with it.
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And a lot of the things that a lot of the symptoms that um she has, they have been very easy.
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Uh, I don't want to say easy.
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Let me take that back.
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Um, I've been able to find ways to deal, to cope.
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Um when her tremors are bad and the dexteria in her hand.
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Um, we swatched, switched out forks for spoons, um, cutting up her food for her, chopping it up for her, putting it in a blender, pureeing it for her.
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Um that's an easy fix.
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Uh difficulty with walking.
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We get her uh first, it started out with a cane, and through progression, we got her a walker.
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And if her walking continues to decline, um, we're prepared to get her a wheelchair.
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So those are the kind of things, the physical things that we're able to um, when I say we, I'm I'm always talking about my brothers and I.
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Um, so I don't want it to make it seem like I'm just the caregiver.
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I'm the face.
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I'm the face.
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I am the host.
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So um, but they're behind the scenes.
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And one day I'll get them on the podcast.
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But, anyways, the physical part, um, it's hard to see, but when you're a caregiver, you get it done.
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And I was able to get all those things done.
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I could help her with whatever she needed help with when it came to the physical.
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Part of her having multiple sclerosis, part of her multiple sclerosis is dealing with a short-term memory, um, a form of dementia.
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That has been the hardest.
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And that's something I can't fix.
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That's something that I can't pivot.
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That is something that has been the hardest for me to actually deal with.
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The decline was hard, and you get used to it again, that new normal.
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The short-term memory and the dementia, I don't know if I'll ever get used to it.
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Um, I was having a conversation with my mom just yesterday.
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That's why I'm talking about it today, and she asked me about my work trip, and I tell her about it, and we start talking about something else, and then she goes back and she asks the same questions about the work trip, and I tell her again, and then we go on to something else, and she comes back and she asks me about the work trip again.
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Um, I was probably talking to her for about 30 minutes, and she asked me about that work trip probably about six times.
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It's the repetitive.
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And that is hard.
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It's hard to talk to this person, see this person, hear this person, and they sound the same, but their mind isn't there, not the way it used to be.
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Also, within that conversation, she one of those when she went on to the next next subject, she asked me about a friend, and I was telling her, um, because again, my mom can tell you what happened 20 years ago, but she can't remember what happened five minutes ago.
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Um, and so for a short period of time, I had my my old mom back, and I was telling her that I'm no longer talking to that friend, and I had to put some boundaries in place.
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And um, I told her I didn't know the why I've accepted it for as long as I did.
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And she came back and she said, It doesn't matter why you did, it matters that you finally did it.
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And that short period of time I had my mom, and it felt so good.
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And I was like, Yes, this is what I miss.
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And then she went back and she said, How was your work trip?
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And it was just this gut punch because it's like I had a small sliver of my mom, only for it to be stripped away, and there's nothing I can do to fix it.
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I can't fix short-term dementia, short-term memory.
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I can't fix dementia.
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And that is the hard part because I am a fixer.
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I am a care person.
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I am get it done.
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My mom would always say, you always get it done.
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You always get it done.
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And I do.
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No matter how it's done, I get it done, regardless of what it is, it's going to be done.
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And so this is hard because I can't fix it.
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This is totally out of my control.
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And I just have to sit here and accept it.
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And when I get those glimmers of my mom, it feels so good.
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But then to have it stripped away is so hard.
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Um, and those of you who know me, you know, growing up, I was always my mom, my mom, my mom.
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When I became a caregiver, and this is something I actually went through therapy and talked about um through the different uh normals that I've had or variations of my mom, I changed how I re uh how I caught her.
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So growing up, she's always been mom.
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Once I became a full-time caregiver, she became Miss Lynette.
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It was a way for me to separate my mom and daughter relationship to mother and caregiver relationships.
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So now that she's back in Minnesota, she's back to being mom.
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And it's hard when I don't have her.
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It's hard.
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So anybody um who is dealing with short-term memory, who is dealing with any kind of Alzheimer's, who is dealing with any kind of dementia, I totally get it.
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I totally understand it.
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Um, and again, I'm sitting here with a smile.
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This smile is fake as I'll get out right now.
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Um, but it hurts.
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And this is the unfiltered part.
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It hurts.
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It hurts that she just doesn't remember.
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It hurts that there's nothing that I can do about it.
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It hurts that she doesn't always remember who someone is, um, whether it's a family um member, she doesn't remember names.
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Um and she knows it.
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And she is very protective of that, and that's the part that hurts also.
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My mom um remembered everyone.
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My mom read books and books and books, and to this day she still reads books.
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What I don't know is if she actually remembers what she's reading, and it doesn't even matter because I love the fact that she'll call us up and she'll say she saw a book on TV and she wants it.
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And guess what?
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She'll get that book.
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That book is delivered, um, whether we deliver it through Amazon or we actually bring it to her.
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She gets the book.
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Um, and so that's part of the new norm.
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Um, she has tons of books, and I don't even know if she knows what she's reading, but it doesn't even matter because it gives her some sense of her life.
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And for that, I'm thankful.
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All right, so I don't even remember what next week's episode.
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Oh, I do.
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Home health.
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So make sure you tune in next week for home health um about bringing someone into your home or to to help with your loved one.
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Um another great episode.
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Um, I am actually, I don't want to say surprised, but I actually am surprised on how many different uh topics can come out of caregiving.
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I remember when it was brought to me about doing a podcast on caregiving.
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I guess what after 10 episodes, what do I talk about?
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And there's always something.
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There's always something, there's always someone's story that's different.
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So again, if you have a story about caregiving, or if you know someone who would like to share their story about caregiving, let me know.
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I'm open.
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All right.
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Also, don't forget to subscribe, don't forget to share.
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Um, we are on all pop podcast platforms: Apple, Amazon, Spotify, um, and of course YouTube.
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So um share the episodes.
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It really helps me.
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I am seeing um different countries, different cities where it's being shared.
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And I love it.
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It just does my heart well that um people in China are watching my or listening to my podcast.
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So um thank you for those who found it.
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Um, I appreciate all of you and all your views.
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Um, I appreciate those of you who have subscribed.
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I appreciate those of you who actually watch it or listen to it.
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So again, thank you.
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Um, last week's episode is about juggling many roles and Latanya um speaking very candidly about how she juggles those roles.
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And then next week is do you need home help?
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Do you need someone to come into your home to help you with duties for your loved one that you're caring for?
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Because not only are they helping the person, your loved one, they're actually helping you.
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So the home health is caring for the caregiver.
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Um so yes, those are the next that was last week's episode and then next week's episode.
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So tune in.
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Thank you, everyone.
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And I think that's it.
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All right, have a good day, everyone.
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Bye bye.