Artist Susan Myrland could have succumbed to the sadness and frustration of watching her elderly mother slip into dementia. Instead, she morphed the experience into a cathartic artistic expression–and shared it online, for all the world to see.
“I was starting to forget who she’d been,” Myrland said. “The person that she was with dementia was just erasing all the good memories that I’d had of her as an independent woman, and a very intelligent woman, a very strong woman. That was beginning to be wiped away.”
She didn’t realize that an Internet audience would want to follow along as her beloved mother Ginny struggled; in fact as she chronicled her mother’s demise, she attracted followers.
Now a sampling of these images are on display at the UCLA Medical School’s Learning Resources Center, where the busy lobby serves as an art gallery. The space offers students and visitors a glimpse at the human side of medicine. (Last time we visited, it was to look at a show depicting how artists coped with back pain.)
Myrland hopes that medical students will see the show and realize that they are dealing with a family system. “If they think that it’s just going to be a one-to-one doctor patient relationship, in the case of dementia, where there’s this cognitive impairment, they have to interact with other people, and convey the information to other people, and work through other people.”
Phenomenal…something so many of us can relate deeply with, thank you Lisa.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
writing an annotated bibliography
dementia it is a one which can erase a memory which you have mentioned and its OK then but if you are their then that will help her to stand up and recall all those one.You can Travel to some place to get more refreshed.
What can I say? Everyone copes with loss in a different way. Whatever manner it is though – from seeing a psychiatrist to more creative means such as this – the important thing is having friends and family there to help.
It's true, and I think retirement homes/nursing homes need more family-catered facilities for those who cannot care for there loved ones 24/7, but wish to see them and stay with them in the home on particular occasions. But it's not like the government is even going to attempt to fund that….
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