It’s a hard day when you are sick and your loved one is exhibiting psychotic and neurotic behavior and needing extra help.  You don’t want to move but you must.  At least we have to.  Our loved one is 100% dependent.

Harder yet is to not lose patience when it takes 10 minutes to get them to stand because they can’t figure out how it works.  Not that they aren’t capable, but the brain doesn’t remember how to stand, or the brain says she is standing when she isn’t.

At that point it feels like it takes superhuman ability to guard your tone.  But with dementia, tone and touch mean more than your words.  It’s how dementia patients interpret communication.  They may not understand your words at all, but they know your tone.  And if it is hard tone or an impatient tone, their stress levels soar and they begin to shut down.  It’s a double-edged sword.

But even more than your words (they still matter), fight for the right tone of voice.  It’s more important than you realize.