Blog Aids People With Parents Suffering From Dementia
UPDATED 03/25/11 9:53 a.m.
GLENVIEW, Ill. (WBBM/CBS) -- A north suburban woman whose parents suffer from dementia has come up with a way to share the trials and tribulations with other Baby Boomer caregivers.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Bernie Tafoya reports, Diane Rosen, a freelance writer from Glenview, looked unsuccessfully to find others who were caring for parents with dementia. She found little online, so she started her own blog, "Dead Men Don't Eat Chicken."
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"When you're caring for people with dementia, you're on an emotional roller coaster – that's for sure," Rosen said.
Rosen says she and others share their ups and downs with others on the blog.
"'Oh, your dad has dementia? So does mine!' 'Your mom has dementia? So does mine!' and we would commiserate, and we would talk, and we would laugh, and we would cry, and we would share something there that made us feel better," she said.
Rosen's parents both have dementia.
Rosen says of her mother that, "She can't remember five minutes ago. It's Groundhog Day every day for my mother. Every five seconds, you have to remind her."
The name of the blog actually came from a conversation Rosen had with her father, as she brought him a chicken lunch.
Recounted on the blog, Rosen says when she arrived, her father said he thought he was dead. Rosen said, "Dead men don't eat chicken!! Come on!" to which her father replied, "Well, if I'm not dead, I might as well eat," the blog said.
Rosen says on the blog that she laughed at the absurdity of the conversation, but also cried at the sadness of the situation.
"It hit me hard that although my dad was physically still with me—in reality he was no longer with me at all. And I shuddered with the knowledge that it was never going to get any better," she wrote.
Rosen says 13 million baby boomers are caring for parents who have some form of dementia.
