The First Christmas of Overtime

Following Thanksgiving holidays I resolved to change. “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” is never truer than dealing with dementia. My wife Patti’s Multiple Sclerosis disabilities, specifically dementia, is never going to allow her to remember any family holiday gathering no matter how hard I try over and over again to involve her and it does get harder holiday after holiday. 

… On the other hand I will remember and more importantly our daughter will remember. … Rather than ‘expect’ different results it was time to ‘create’ different results. 

The genesis of this Christmas Day trip was to create a memory of skating together on the Rink at Rockefeller Center for my daughter and myself. 

The bottom line is that memories of a fun time together are priceless in a year that included not just the 23rd Thanksgiving since Multiple Sclerosis entered our family but me flat-lined for 20 seconds, diagnosis of lung cancer, and successful lung cancer surgery.  IMHO ‘lung cancer survivors’ are not just the person with the diagnosis. 

Sooo with Patti safely asleep and cared for in her care facility, our adult daughter joined me taking turns driving and storm running for 200 miles through the night with the Christmas Eve winter storm arriving in New York City shortly after dawn. ...  

The First Christmas of Overtime

P.S. Picking Patti up from her care facility for an outing today and after pushing her past mounds of plowed snow, I asked her what holiday had just passed, ... She thought a moment and responded, "Halloween!". 

Patrick Leer

Health Activist:

Caregivingly Yours, MS Caregiver @ http://caregivinglyyours.blogspot.com/

My Lung Cancer Odyssey @ http://lung-cancer-survivor.blogspot.com/

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