Newsletter
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By juliezavala in My Turn
An old friend of mine from high school was ranting about the government the other day on Facebook. I wrote to him and asked him if he was alright. He sent me a long email further explaining his unhappiness with ...
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By juliezavala in My Turn
I have often loftily proclaimed that it doesn't make sense to send flowers to a funeral home - to a dead person. Flowers are for the living, I insisted when I would make the argument to my husband. Over the ...
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By juliezavala in My Turn
When I started writing my blog "My Turn" it was a way to handle all the changes and the confusion and sometimes heartache of dealing with my Dad's Alzheimer's disease. Later, it turned into a journal of the fun times ...
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By juliezavala in My Turn
One of my Dad's favorite albums was Linda Ronstadt's "What's New?". A song from that album fits my feelings completely. It goes like this: What'll I do when you are far away And I am blue, what'll I do? What'll ...
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By juliezavala in My Turn
Felix today, sitting in Dad's chair. My Dad, James Michael Parfait, Sr., died last night. He couldn't breathe and nothing we or the hospice nurse did, saved him. He left us at 3 am. I am happy that I was ...
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By juliezavala in My Turn
'Hopefully they'll have a good sitter for him that will appreciate his great sense of humor.' I wrote those words when I first decided to call Senior Helpers for a sitter. The woman they eventually produced was way better than ...
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By juliezavala in My Turn
Dad notices more than he lets on. Today, as we were sitting in the living room watching Andy Griffith on Netflix he looked at me and told me that I was stronger than I knew. And then he told me, ...
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By juliezavala in My Turn
Since Dad came to live with us I've always helped him with his showers. I make sure that I hold a towel around him - as much for his benefit as for mine - as I help him step over ...
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By juliezavala in My Turn
Daddy enjoying his new iPod. So far, we've given Dad three iPods. Numbers one and two bit the dust (or the soap suds) after they were accidentally washed in the washing machine. I'm hoping "three's the charm." Last weekend Robert ...
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By juliezavala in My Turn
For those of you who have older parents who may, in the near future, need to be cared for, I have this advice; try your best to keep them at home with you. They cared for you and probably did ...