Dementia Care Lessons, Encouragement, and Hope From Marti Pieper’s Caregiving Journey
Marti’s expertise in dementia comes as the result of her experience as a dementia care partner (she cared for her husband, who suffered from two types of young-onset dementia, and her mother, who also suffered from dementia in her final years) and the learning she acquired as a key component of her caregiving. She loves to help churches, dementia care partners, and others learn from her mistakes and successes along the caregiving journey. Read Marti Pieper’s dementia posts below:
Snapshots of Dementia: The Best Present of All
Andrew and Tom, Christmas Eve, 2023
From our wedding day forward, music has been an essential part of our family life. Tom wrote our wedding processional. We had a playlist for my labor with our children long before it was popular to have ... read more
Snapshots of Dementia: At Just the Right Time
Tom uses his trumpet to draw people to the area where our mission team would present a gospel-based drama, San Jose, Costa Rica, 2014.
A few years ago, I lived a much different life in a different place than the one I have right now. Living near ... read more
Snapshots of Dementia: I Bowed on My Knees
Tom directs an outdoor Christmas choir performance, c. 2014
How it’s going:
— Tom asks for help much more often with the word games he plays on his iPad; sometimes he can’t fill in any of the missing letters or words ... read more
Snapshots of Dementia: Pluses in the Minus
geralt on Pixabay
Dementia steals. Dementia kills. Dementia destroys.
Those of you familiar with Scripture will recognize that these are all tactics of the enemy of our souls. I have no doubt that Alzheimer's and all dementia ... read more
Snapshots of Dementia: Tom, Marti, and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Rehearsal
Tom, age eleven, plays his first nightclub job.
Just as my brain is wired for words and language, Tom’s is wired for music. He has always been the guy who noticed the music in the store or restaurant that most of us hear only with our ... read more
Snapshots of Dementia: Great Expectations
Geralt on Pixabay
Don’t have unrealistic expectations of your spouse. I had that advice drilled into me even before my marriage. I learned not to expect Tom, who had been raised in a far different family setting from mine, to do, say, ... read more
Snapshots of Dementia: How Firm Thy Friendship
by Andrew Pieper
The silver sousaphone shone like a mirror in the Saturday afternoon sun as the band member high-stepped out of formation to dot the i with an exaggerated bow in the iconic Script Ohio, one of college football’s ... read more
Snapshots of Dementia: Have Dementia, Will Travel (Part 2)
Tom and Marti, Alaska 2023
We chose the trip together. We talked about it for months. We met with our friends to plan our off-ship excursions. But even the week we left, Tom didn’t remember what day we were going, what city we would fly ... read more
Snapshots of Dementia: Have Dementia, Will Travel
Happy anniversary, baby!” I told Tom as we woke up on board the first day of our Great Alaskan Adventure Cruise.
He didn’t respond.
“I’m saying that because we’re on this trip to celebrate ... read more
Snapshots of Dementia: The Great Alaskan Adventure, Part 2
(L-R) Sheryl, Marti, Tom, and David in our first meeting on the ship
Our Great Alaskan Adventure taught us—in more ways than one—how thankful we are that “I’ve Got a Friend Like You.”
We knew we’d be ... read more
Snapshots of Dementia: The Great Alaskan Adventure, Part 1
(L-R) Mary Beth Chapman, Hardy Lee, Barbara Winkler, Tom, Marti, Steven Curtis Chapman
Our family loves music. Not just because Tom worked as a professional musician and worship pastor before he was living with dementia, although that has a lot ... read more
Snapshots of Dementia: What You Don't See
(Unsplash)
Marriage to someone who is living with dementia has taught me lots of things, many of which I’ve shared on this forum. I’ve learned about the disease, about the changing needs of people LWD, and about ... read more
