It's ok to ask for Help

Emily's
Story

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"At 7 am in the morning, I wake up and start my day with a smile and practice my breathing."

At 7 am in the morning, I wake up and start my day with a smile and practice my breathing. For  the days when my husband wakes up early, I have to get ready right away.

First, I take my husband to the bathroom to do the daily personal hygiene. Since he has severe Alzheimer’s disease, I have to do everything for him: changing diapers, taking shower, etc. After the morning hygiene routine, I have to prepare breakfast and medication for him, as well as checking his blood pressure, blood sugar.

After serving him with his meal, then I have to start cleaning up. He never feels full, he is always hungry and yelling. Then I have to feed again. After his meal, I need to check his diaper, change it and clean up for him if needed. After that, we will spend some time watching television. 

However, he can’t sit still for a long time, just couple minutes after watching television,he gets up and looks for things: things to eat and also things to break. Being afraid that he will fall if he is going alone, therefore, I have to follow him with his every steps. He sits for couple of minutes, then he walks around again, then he is hungry, he needs to eat, then comes diapers changing and cleaning up again.

"Just like that for the whole day, I don’t have time to sit down or rest."

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Just like that for the whole day, I don’t have time to sit down or rest. Whenever I touch him, he would be yelling at me, sometimes he can be aggressive and even hit me or pull my hair. At night, I don’t have a straight full sleep since I have to wake up 2 or 3 times to change diapers for him.

Every day he keeps doing the same thing all over, he eats, he drinks, he breaks things. Then I change diapers for him, help him with daily hygiene routine. And my everyday keeps going like that, from early morning till night.