JanetB821

Hi Linda My name is Jan and I can empathize with your situation. My husband doesn’t have dementia, but lost his eyesight from diabetes and has many medical issues, so I am his caregiver. My days are very long and having to deal with his anger at his loss, gets a bit hard to deal with. Dementia steals so much of your life. My sister was just put into a home and sometimes doesn’t recognize her children, which is horrible for them. It takes who you are and destroys it.

Hi James I haven’t heard from you. Hope all is well. My email address is janetbodlund@gmail.com if you would like to chat directly.

Hey Lynn I wish I could visit the UK, but my travelling was only once to Sweden (I live in Cochrane, Alberta Canada), to meet my pen pal who I married in 1996! I think I drove him crazy when I was there because all I wanted to see is the ancient buildings (Canada is relatively new and buildings over 200 years old are fascinating). With Karl driving, I would scream CHURCH and nearly caused an accident, lol. And graveyards are quite interesting with some very old gravestones. I enjoyed the Varsa ship museum too. I had a stopover in London both ways and on the trip in, had to transfer airports and take a bus to Scandinavia airline. The air was very soft, with moisture. Where I live is 1159 m above sea level and air is very dry. Since developing diabetes, my husband lost his eyesight and developed kidney disease, I am now his caregiver. He is extremely angry at his fate and unfortunately he takes it out on me. But by the Grace of God, I am mostly keeping him on an even keel. I recently started yoga and qigong to keep my sanity. And from this post, you might notice I love writing. I spent my work life as IT support and I love making a machine do what I want it to, so it was mostly enjoyable work. However, it did take its toll on my hands, fingers, neck and spine with arthritis, so am paying in spades for that lifestyle. Looking forward to chatting with you and my email is janetbodlund@gmail.com.

Hi LADYLILAC I am from Canada, near Banff Alberta. I retired 3 years ago from IT tech support. Having worked 2 jobs throughout my life, friendships suffered and I never developed interests outside of computers. My computer use has caused extreme arthritis in my fingers and wrists as well as neck and spine. Am a caregiver to my husband who lost his eyesight from diabetes and has stage 4 kidney disease, hypertension and can’t walk very well. I recently joined a seniors group to get me out of the house for a few hours ar a time. Am taking yoga and qigong to keep my joints from deteriorating any further. Would love a pen pal from anywhere Jan

Hi Paul Sorry for your loss. It is extremely difficult to lose the love f your life and facing the future alone. Glad to see you are looking for interests of your own too, that don’t hold memories. Wishing you the best Jan

I too retired without anything to fill my days. I worked 2 jobs the majority of my working life, which affected friendships and developing interests outside of computers. Now retired and am a caregiver to my recently blind husband who has major health issues. After spending 3 years cooped up with my walls, Covid also played a major part. I recently started researching seniors groups in my community. I now try to participate in yoga and qigong once a week and am looking at taking painting classes to be around people. I am also pursuing Tai Chi for its exercise and balance benefits. No I am not a go getter, lol. I am a Cancer woman who is home oriented. But I did something for myself in that arena too. I go a 12 week old kitten who is the joy of my life. Wishing you the best Janu

Greetings James It is a pleasure to meet you. I have several relatives in Australia that my aunt used to visit. Unfortunately she never left me any names of our relatives. Let me know if there are any Killan’s that you may notice down under. I live in Cochrane, Alberta Canada which is at the base of the Rocky Mountains and near Banff. Alberta’s mountain and foothills carnivore wildlife includes wolves, coyotes, black bears, grizzlies and mountain lions, which show up in Cochrane every now and then. I love the deer and elk that stop on my street for a snack as the head for the river. This week I am going to force myself to go take Qigong and yoga at our seniors centre. I really need to get out of my house for a few hours. Hard being a compassionate caregiver with an angry person who lost his eyesight to diabetes. I have a daughter Shauna and my grandchildren includes Anthony, a personal trainer, his companion Gayle, and great granddaughter’s Isabel and Dylan. And Breanna is my granddaughter and she is graduating high school this year and is finishing her gymnastics training in June. She also works at the gym as a coach. I don’t spend much time with my family as my husband doesn’t get along with them and I can’t visit as I would like as I can’t leave a blind man alone. I got a kitten last Wednesday and she looks Siamese, but her father is a hairless Sphinx and mother calico. She doesn’t have much fur, which is good in my books…lol. Look forward to learning about your life in Australia. Jan

Greetings I just discovered this chat forum for plus 50s. I am 68, a caregiver t my blind, diabetic, kidney disease and hypertension husband. He sleeps most of the day, and I have a huge void in my life. I used to be a person with varied interests until arthritis stole this from me. My keen interest is writing and I wrote my autobiography (not published), as part of my understanding my childhood years, which weren’t great, as I imagine that I am not alone there…lol. I have a whacky sense of humour and would love to meet someone who had a rocky start on life too. Jan