Hi @sallysue This is Scott saying hello as a bit of a test message to see if you get notification.

The Caregivers group discussion does ebb and flow as caregivers have spare moments to post -- or not 🙂 I remember the fact there were many weeks of caregiving when I had literally no extra time for anything outside of caregiving.

I imagine you are right, there are also folks recovering from the hurricanes too. Our son and his family live inland in Florida and while safe got hit pretty badly. Winds tore a portion of their house off and high water has cut their neighborhood off from the rest of town. Good news is they got power back on early this morning and the town is getting the traffic lights working again too. He rode out the storm since his organization was part of the evacuation process getting folks who couldn't drive or were in care centers to shelters. Now as the inspectors OK their homes they are starting to get some of them back.
Hope your profile is working for you now!

Peace, strength, and courage!

Wow Scott, I'm happy to hear your son and his family are safe! I have no idea how insurance works in the US but I wish him an painless process putting everything back together.
Monika

Thanks @mojo1965 It should work out OK and they are very thankful it was not worse. They all did OK, but were not as scared as they reported their golden retriever was! They kept saying 'we hope he doesn't know something to be scared about that we don't!

Scott

Yesss! Thank you Scott. This is definitely back to the way it used to be and I can see posts within the last day. Thank you for the test message. We live in south Orlando and never lost power. Amazing!!! Everyone we know lost power and some are still out. Our son just got his restored last night over in the Tampa Bay Area so they are leaving this morning to go home. It's been quite the party with my son and wife, and two grandsons 4 mos. and 2 1/2 years. Thanks. I need the support this group gives. It also shuts up friends and all their books, pamphlets, seminar suggestions etc etc. they mean well but I get tired of advice from people who don't know. So I just say that I'm in a support group of others in my situation and then I get nice adult conversation . Thanks to everyone for being there. We are all on this thread for each other.

The pleasure was all mine, @sallysue For sure! Glad to hear you fared as well as can be expected during Irma. She was a beast for sure! Our kids and grands are less than an hour from your area. Small world, eh?

It is wonderful to hear you find support here at Connect. I found Connect for the same reasons and got a nice chuckle from your comment "their books, pamphlets, seminar suggestions.." I began posting here out of two caregiving frustrations.

One was the incredible isolation primary caregiving can cause not only to the patient, but also to the caregiver.

Second, I was seeking someplace I could post, share, and communicate with caregivers about what it is REALLY LIKE being a caregiver! I was so frustrated by reading article after article -- many of which were given to me by well meaning folks I suppose -- which were so unrealistic they made me crazy! So many of these articles focus on telling 'super feel good' caregiving stories of folks, which were totally unrealistic to 99% of caregivers. One told of a fellow who, while living in New York City was rich enough to fly to care for his father in California every other week and his company paid him to work from both coasts! Then a week after I was fired from my job by a young, new boss who only wanted workers who 'focused 100% on the job' a family member sent me an article about a caregiver who, when her husband got cancer, was told by her company she could take full time off as long as he was ill and they continued to pay her full salary and full benefits! The final straw was an article handed to me in person. This article explained how this individual viewed caregiving as a 'tremendously uplifting experience' for her. She was her husband's caregiver for 2 weeks before he passed away! The person who handed it to me had the audacity to tell me I needed to 'find this happiness' -- and this while I was in my 12th or 13th year of caring for my wife!

It is the wide shoulders, kindred spirts, and knowing support in Connect that I find so very wonderful! I am thankful so many caregivers take precious moments of their time to join in, read, SHARE, and when able post and participate here with and for caregivers.

I hope you have a sunny day in the Sunshine State today! I miss my grandkids today 🙂

Strength, courage, and peace!

Hi @sallysue
Your profile has been updated correctly. You are now subscribed only to the Caregivers group, and will receive an email of any post that mentions you.

The Video Q&A (seminars) are included in everyone's daily digest, however. These are live online Q&A sessions with Mayo Clinic experts. We host one or two a week on a variety of topics. After the live Q&A, the sessions are archived as a video here: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/webinars/

Like Scott said, the conversations in the caregivers group went quiet for a little bit. It does ebb and flow, but is picking up again thanks to this exchange. Did the hurricane, the lead up to it and during, unsettle your sister? How are you both doing now?

We did well. She has been sleeping in her chair since everyone left. I've been doing laundry,;-). She did great ... just tired.