My Bridge Was Collapsing: Surviving While Caring for a Spouse with Dementia - Paperback

by Jane Grudt (Author)

What do you do when your mate slowly becomes a stranger with difficult behaviors?

"Do you think my spouse is ready to go to memory care?" In this book, you will find four simple words to add to "I don't know!" The caregiver is looking up to you while focused soley on their spouse.

As the caregiver of a spouse with dementia, for two decades, there was no turning back. Hidden on the underside of my bridge of caregiving were rotting beams, splitting gusset plates, and eroding supports. They were like secrets within the privacy of marriage, riddled with hidden stress and exhaustion. I was expected to do a job I did not want, not knowing what was reasonable to expect, to do, or to ask. As my husband was disqualified again and again from hospice care, I had little desire to end my life but also little reason to feel my life was worth living.

This book is for all who care about the caregivers and those who are the caregivers of a spouse with dementia. No one knows the moment a bridge will collapse, nor do we know when a caregiver may collapse. Often, the help caregivers need is hidden from view. Written with my experience, both good and bad, I hope to let people in the same situation know that there is hope.