compassion | Jennifer Sullivan

One memory at a time

Being an Alzheimer’s caregiver is hard. I raised three kids and went through a divorce and I’ve faced down everything life has thrown my way so far, but this caregiver…

A Letter to My Mom

a·mends (noun): to compensate or make up for a wrongdoing. Amends in 12-step work are about a genuine change in our behavior instead of the patchwork of an apology ~…

Milestones and Mortality

My mom and I both have milestone birthdays this year. She is turning 80 and I’m turning 50. Fifty years old! When I was in my teens and even into…

Things nobody told me about being an Alzheimer’s caregiver

First and foremost, when it rains it pours. It seems that I can go weeks with just the regular visits to my mom and all is well, but when something…

Grace and Dignity and Alzheimer’s

I had one of the roughest visits with my mom yesterday. She’s been in a pretty good mood the last few times we’d seen her, so I wasn’t expecting…

The long journey of Alzheimer’s Disease

My mom was originally diagnosed with dementia in 2013; but about a year later, I was talking to her doctor and she was talking about my mom’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis. So…

It’s Never or Now

I’ve been debating whether or not to write this for a few weeks. Writing helps me work out how I’m feeling about something, but this is a sad subject. Almost…

The Struggle of Alzheimer’s and Dementia

In 2013 my mother spent a few days in the hospital. Initially she went there because she had food poisoning, but within 24 hours the doctors and nurses knew that…

Death

We experience death from the moment we are born, but unless we lose someone close to us at a young age, we do not really start to understand death until…

Self-Acceptance

For me, self-acceptance is the most difficult part of the journey. Self-discovery, self-care, even my grasp on my self-esteem is easier than finding my own sense of self-acceptance. I think…

Tag: compassion