Find a new perspective, a moment of humor, and just maybe, a way to survive.

EPISODES

Feeling Squeezed? Caring for a Parent with Dementia while Raising Your Young Family
Jan. 20, 2026

Feeling Squeezed? Caring for a Parent with Dementia while Raising Your Young Family

What’s it like to be the caregiver for your parents while raising a young family of your own, and your wife is pregnant? Not easy! Healthcare journalist Paul Wynn writes about caregiving issues for more than 70 national publi...
AI Resurrects Your Dead Loved One: A Miracle? Or Emotional Whiplash?
Jan. 10, 2026

AI Resurrects Your Dead Loved One: A Miracle? Or Emotional Whiplash?

Imagine you open your computer, strike a few keys, and there’s your spouse…who died three years ago – like my husband did. You aren’t looking at a photo. Or a video. No. This is more like Zoom or Facetime. The image you see l...
How Deep-Rooted Childhood Bonds Shape Your Adult Caregiving Style
Dec. 24, 2025

How Deep-Rooted Childhood Bonds Shape Your Adult Caregiving Style

The attachment bonds we formed in our earliest relationships influence how we connect with others later in life. Dementia care expert Tami Anastasia, MA, brings 30 years of experience in supporting family and professional caregivers. In this episode she talks about four attachment styles and how th…
Guest: Tami Anastasia, MA
Alzheimer's, Romance, and Intimacy
July 11, 2025

Alzheimer's, Romance, and Intimacy

You will never regret being kind to your spouse. In a strong marriage, the sexual expression of love is the sinew that ties two hearts together and forms the kind of bond we depend on to get us through life's greatest challen...
Can Improv Help Dementia Caregivers Survive?
June 24, 2025

Can Improv Help Dementia Caregivers Survive?

You know that caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's or other form of dementia can leave your mind confused, your body exhausted, and your spirit depressed. Yes, and what if I said there's something simple that might help yo...
My Two Elaines - A Governor's Dementia Caregiving Memoir
May 9, 2025

My Two Elaines - A Governor's Dementia Caregiving Memoir

Former governor of Wisconsin, Martin L. Schreiber ("Marty") married his high school sweetheart, Elaine. Sixty-two years later, she died from Alzheimer's Disease. To help other spouses on the same dementia caregiving journey, Marty wrote a memoir: My Two Elaines. In it, he says, “None of the books I…
Guests: Martin L. Schreiber , https://mytwoelaines.com
A Husband Videos His Dementia Caregiving Journey
April 19, 2025

A Husband Videos His Dementia Caregiving Journey

At part of their daughter's wedding ceremony, Heather was supposed to give their daughter a necklace that had once belonged to Heather's mother.  Heather's husband, John, talks about what it was like when he and his daughter realized Heather had...
Guests: John Van Gurp , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY7yGecGEik
Visited Mom Today - An Interview with Author John D. Scully
Feb. 8, 2025

Visited Mom Today - An Interview with Author John D. Scully

For 13 years, John Scully visited his mom in a nursing home. For the last 8 years of her life, she couldn’t talk. So he had other conversations. And they became a book. It’s called Visited Mom Today: Conversations Through the Lens of...
How Did I Survive? Truth, Strength, and Walter Cronkite
Jan. 18, 2025

How Did I Survive? Truth, Strength, and Walter Cronkite

I grew up listening to Walter Cronkite. He signed off each nightly newscast with “And that’s the way it is.” As a kid, I was often alarmed by the news. But I reasoned that if Walter Cronkite respected me enough to tell me the truth, then I could...
The Caregiver You Love Needs Help!
Jan. 1, 2025

The Caregiver You Love Needs Help!

This episode is a message for the caregiver to send to someone else, someone who doesn't know, or doesn't understand, the stress the caregiver is going through. I liken that stress to driving alone, in an old car, up a steep mountain on a narrow,...
Tall Ships and Facing Death - Victoria Burdick, Hospice Chaplain, Ret.
Oct. 31, 2024

Tall Ships and Facing Death - Victoria Burdick, Hospice Chaplain, Ret.

"Between now and dead, you've got a purpose. Don't be timid." Before she retired as a hospice chaplain, Reverend Victoria Burdick faced her own death several times. In her 30s while in divinity school, she wrote a series of essays she called "Lunch...
Anticipatory Healing - What Family Dementia Caregivers Need to Know to Survive
July 20, 2024

Anticipatory Healing - What Family Dementia Caregivers Need to Know to Survive

You've probably heard of anticipatory grief. Unbidden, hidden, and immediate, it comes with the diagnosis that your loved one has Alzheimer's. Depending on when the diagnosis was delivered, it can be several years or more before your loved one dies....
Wandering and the Bring Me Back Home Program
Jan. 3, 2024

Wandering and the Bring Me Back Home Program

For a person with Alzheimer's or other form of dementia, wandering can be dangerous. If that person isn't found within 24 hours, the chances that he or she will suffer serious injury, even death, increase dramatically. The family dementia caregiver...
The Dilemma of Dementia and Driving: Taking away the keys?
Nov. 19, 2023

The Dilemma of Dementia and Driving: Taking away the keys?

Your spouse has Alzheimer's. You know he - or she - shouldn't be driving. When you bring up the subject, you hear some version of, "That's ridiculous! I know how to drive a car."  He might be right. He might still know how to drive a car. The...
"I Didn't See It Coming" - Interview with LBD caregiver Mary Lou Falcone
Nov. 5, 2023

"I Didn't See It Coming" - Interview with LBD caregiver Mary Lou Falcone

Mary Lou Falcone became a caregiver when her father had a massive stroke. She was 10 years old. The experience prepared her for the day, many years later, when her husband, illustrator and 1950s rocker Nicky Zann, was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia...
Illusive Dreams and Frustrating Dementia Care Ads
Oct. 3, 2023

Illusive Dreams and Frustrating Dementia Care Ads

Sometimes, the dreams we carry inspire us. Then life changes, especially if your spouse has dementia. Now, those same dreams weigh us down… and we have to let go. Advertisements for some memory care facilities and some dementia service agencies...
My Caregiver Friend Died First
Aug. 14, 2023

My Caregiver Friend Died First

This is a cautionary tale about a dear friend, a family caregiver who died first. She was in her mid-70s, a few weeks younger than I am. In mid-April, she had a stroke. She died mid-July, just as I faced the one-year milestone of my husband's death...
Why Join a Support Group? To Survive!
June 16, 2023

Why Join a Support Group? To Survive!

Questions and answers. Frustrations and fresh ideas. Support and compassion. They’re all elements of what a good support group can provide. There are differences in the various forms of dementia and differences in the patients. Still, when it comes to helping the caregiver navigate the journey …
My First Holiday Season Alone
March 6, 2023

My First Holiday Season Alone

My husband died last summer. He had Alzheimer's. I’ve experienced a lot of “firsts” without him: his birthday, my birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and most recently, Valentine’s Day. Some of those days passed without...
Not Feeling Festive? Light a Solstice Candle
Dec. 21, 2022

Not Feeling Festive? Light a Solstice Candle

Not feeling festive? No surprise. For those of us caring for a spouse with Alzheimer's or other form of dementia, December can be a cruel month. While much of the world is joyful. We're sad. It's part of the journey we're on. Today is the Winter...
Alzheimer's and Hope - A Gift or A Curse?
Dec. 4, 2022

Alzheimer's and Hope - A Gift or A Curse?

Are you caring for a spouse with Alzheimer's?  You need to know that hope, like optimism, can strengthen your resilience or distort your reality. Hope can also be the key to your surivival.  My husband died four months ago. In caring for...
The Power of Grief, Community, and a Tree
Oct. 23, 2022

The Power of Grief, Community, and a Tree

When tragedy reshapes your life, having a supportive community is key to your survival. Since my husband died of Alzheimer's three months ago, I've been in a cave of sorts, rarely leaving the house. My neighbors drew me back into the world of the...
Death and the Funeral
Aug. 27, 2022

Death and the Funeral

From the time my husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, my goal was to care for him at home. He died last month, at home, in my arms. This episode shares deeply personal details about the changes in our relationship, the loss of physical...
Hospice - Help When the End is Near
Aug. 1, 2022

Hospice - Help When the End is Near

My husband died at home on July 19. From steady decline to dramatic drop to sudden nosedive, to death -- that was the pattern. I was prepared for some steps. Others blindsided me. Hospice helped both my husband and me in ways I didn't expect.