This is a very personal essay from November 2016 by children’s book author and illustrator Nancy Carlson. She describes the loneliness she feels when dementia has “stolen” her spouse. At this time, her husband Barry, with a frontotemporal dementia (FTD) diagnosis, was living in a care home.
Many spouses in our local support group have expressed similar feelings of loneliness at our support group meetings. One describes it as being widowed yet her husband is still alive.
I’m not sure that dementia is a requirement for the caregiver to feel this kind of loneliness. Having your spouse in a care facility or having a spouse unable to communicate in any way are certainly lonely circumstances.
Here’s a link to the full essay:
womensvoicesforchange.org/my-journey.htm
Emotional Health
Fighting Loneliness When Dementia Steals a Spouse
By Nancy Carlson
Women’s Voices for Change
November 14, 2016
Robin