New Spouse Memoir, "Alzheimer's Canyon," by Jane Dwinell and Her Husband Sky Yardley

Oct 18, 2023 9:29 pm

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Hello ,

Home improvements. We all have to do them.

I live in the woods. The shade, moss and dampness degrade structures no matter how hard my husband and I try to stay on top of maintenance.

For the past number of weeks, we’ve had some major projects completed, such as a new roof, and rotting porches have been restored.

We are good at staying on top of projects needing completion, but we don’t have the know-how or the skill set of expertise to do the work ourselves.

Often during this renovation, as this banging and pounding was going on around me, I thought about our newest author, Jane Dwinell and her beautiful book, Alzheimer's Canyon: One Couple's Reflections on Living with Dementia.

Jane's and her husband, Sky, had the know-how and the drive to take on new projects. They lived an exciting life. In her words,

We were having so much fun! Sky and I had saved our money, and retired early in our mid-50s to travel and do volunteer work. Our young adult children thought we were, well, a bit crazy, but they supported us. We spent summers in France on our small houseboat, and winters in New Orleans helping people rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. It was a wonderful balance of adventure and being of use.

Until it wasn’t. Sky began having trouble driving the boat, losing his (formerly perfect) sense of direction, and, despite having built six houses and numerous outbuildings, struggling with his carpentry skills. As an RN who had at one time worked in a memory care facility, I feared he had dementia. But how could that be? He was 66 and in otherwise perfect health.

Meeting our authors like Jane is a true blessing in my life as we realize we form a sisterhood and brotherhood of shared experience world-wide. Please read more about Jane's book below.

Meet our newest author

Jane’s experience is guaranteed to touch your heart as both Jane and Sky write about how they dealt with the progression of his dementia.

In her post, Jane writes:

Caring for Sky became a family project. As his skills began to drift away, and his hallucinations escalated, I relied on our son, Sayer, and daughter, Dana, to help me tend to Sky’s needs. They also gave me space to care for my needs as well. But eventually it became too much for all of us. I was getting very little sleep, and my body was covered with hives. I needed a break.

Our local memory care facility had a respite program, and Sky and I went on a tour. He agreed to go for a period of respite — he had been looking for his “people” ever since his diagnosis, and there they were. He was happy. I was delighted to sleep, and take care of myself. Then the pandemic hit. Lockdown. Life changed for us — for everyone. I was not allowed to see Sky, but we talked on the phone or on Zoom. Finally, I was allowed to be with him when he was dying — nearly a year later. He had been very clear with me about his end-of-life wishes, and it was a peaceful death.

Please read and recommend this book to others in Jane’s situation. I applaud Jane for having the courage to share her intimate story with others so they can gain strength from her experience.

Read the Full Post

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Coming Up Next!

AlzAuthors on TEA Time with Miss Liz

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Four Authors Featured in Washington Symposium

We are happy to see four of our wonderful authors come together for this important and timely event on November 9th from 2:00 -3:30.

Madison House Independent and Assisted Living Community

12215 NE 128th St Kirkland, WA

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Susan's Design of the Week

Susan Landeis, author of In Search of Rainbows and Optimal Caregiving, is the creative talent behind the beautiful graphics that adorn our social media feeds. She makes fresh ones daily. To honor Susan and her work, we feature our favorite design of the week - not easy - in each newsletter in case you missed it. Feel free to share the graphics - and their text - to your own social media. This will help spread the word of AlzAuthors and give your followers a reason to smile. Thank you, Susan, for making us look so good!

We all have our good days and bad days. AlzAuthors offers support from other caregivers within hundreds of trusted resources to light your way through #Alzheimers and dementia. You are not alone! https://alzauthors.com/

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Let AlzAuthors light your way with a Custom Caregiver Collection!

Within the pages of these beautiful resources, you will find comfort,

support and insight for your dementia journey.

Perfect for senior centers, care homes, memory cafes and more.

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Gloria Aguirre: Using Creativity to Boost Brain Health Literacy in the Latino Community on Friday, October 20th at 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET

Artist, community advocate, and Atlantic Fellow for Health Equity Gloria Aguirre joins Being Patient Live Talks to discuss her work boosting brain health in San Francisco through education, social connection, and creativity.

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