Listening to music is something we do daily. Elda is slightly deaf, so what she hears and doesn’t hear anymore no one really knows, but we believe she hears much better than she lets us believe! Every lunch and dinner we put on an album or listen to music videos on YouTube. Music is a way to distract her from obsessing about something yet engage her. It is a fundamental tool in our home.

We also sing all day long (also friends that come to visit participate). Living in our home is like living in a bad musical! Fortunately, we do not have videos of this! I have found that if Elda’s mood starts to change and I break out into a song it is snaps her back into the moment. We do this all day long and if I am on my feet, I will often incorporate a little gig with it to make her laugh or at least react. These moments are priceless and are not moments you can stage to create videos; they are spontaneous and meant to be just that. It is enough to explain that we do our best to be happy all the time, to be over-animated and excited about everything because this disease takes Elda to dark places and she can easily become depressed, angry or distracted. The hardest part for me as a caretaker is this; to be constantly “on”.

On a lighter side living in this manner has taught me how to let go of things quickly, how to not hold onto anger or sadness, and most importantly that there is a time and place for everything; we do not need to react in the moment. Emotions like and anger and depression can be put on hold; an argument does not need to be spit out of your mouth in the same moment you feel it; which at the end of the day allows time for reflection and avoids things being said in the heat of a moment to hurt someone. Elda understands only her own anger, when she sees or hears others arguing (even if it is on the TV) it can drastically affect her behavior.

With that said, however, we will try to create some listening to music videos for the future.