The words that doctor told me regarding my mother.... 'she cannot live alone' piled up on top of each other and stuck in my head. I could not breathe. I felt faint and damp. I blinked fast as not to cry….

"If your name is chosen, there is no turning back. As from this moment, the Triwizard Tournament has begun."   – Albus Dumbledore

My name is Suzka. The writer and producer of the Dementialand Podcasts

Voice of Doctor: William McCray

Voice of Dumbledore: Albert Cristy

Voice of Nurse Lucy: Precious Mizell

Voice of Miss Blanchard: Crystal Welch

Based on the book: Wonders In Dementialand™

Please RATE AND REVIEW this podcast

ALSO, check out YouTube’s Dementialand’s Channel. 

Enjoy

Thank you for listening to this podcast ‘She Cannot Live Alone’. For me, it is the most important episode, the turning point in my story.  My life in Dementialand started in 2007 and after a decade, I still remember the weight of those 4 words – 'she cannot live alone'. It was devastating to hear. I was scared to death. But I must tell you, moving in with my mother to that place I called Dementialand was more amazing than horrifying. There is a certain amount of freedom that comes with memory loss.

I wrote a note on a paper napkin during that time, "I learned to see my mother with my eyes opened and not curtained by her motherhood or my ego. I let go of that daughter I thought I was suppose to be.  We met each other for the first time ....almost daily.”  To this day I try to carry a little bit of Dementialand with me. 

My name is Suzka. The writer and producer of the Dementialand Podcasts

Voice by Doctor: William McCray

Based on the book: Wonders In Dementialand™

Please RATE AND REVIEW this podcast

ALSO, check out YouTube’s Dementialand’s Channel. 

Enjoy

Botticelli's Birth of Venus is one of the most treasured artworks of the Renaissance.  It is a painting of a goddess named Venus. Venus emerges from the sea sitting on a shell.  Her shell is pushed to the shore from winds produced by the wind-gods in a shower of roses.  As Venus is about to step out of her shell and onto the shore, a Nymph reaches out to cover her with a cloak.  Suzka realizes her new role at this point might be a Nymph.

Written and produced by Suzka. Based on the book: Wonders In Dementialand Check and Like on YouTube: Dementialand Channel And don’t forget to subscribe.

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I replayed that night a million times over in my head.  Did I miss something? How sick was my mother.  All I know is, she wasn’t quite the mother I remembered.  And between you and me... I think liked this one better.

Written and produced by Suzka. Based on the book: Wonders In Dementialand Check and Like on YouTube: Dementialand Channel And don’t forget to subscribe.

Enjoy

Everyone thinks about this day. Where you’re going to be, how you’re going to react, and under what circumstances will that phone call be made. A parent has an accident and you’re forced to make decisions that change everything.

For myself, I remember clearly one night. I painted into the morning. I was deliriously happy and super creative. The call came at 6:27 am. My mother fell and I needed to get home.

This episode follows the physical trip as well as my head trip from my studio to the front door of my mother’s home.  

Written and produced by Suzka.

Based on the book: Wonders In Dementialand

Please RATE AND REVIEW this podcast

ALSO: YouTube Channel: Dementialand

Enjoy

Let me introduce myself. My name is Suzka. I am an artist, a painter and author, obsessed with a story that needed to be written. A story that begins the day I left my converted warehouse in California and moved into Dementialand located in Chicago where my mother lived. I moved myself to a place where I was no more a daughter but rather part of an oddball cast one would expect to see in a Fellini movie. That time was extraordinary.

But it was actually during my flight back to the states when I first realized the enormity of the subject and how important it is to tell this story. There's another side of dementia that no one is talking about. I wrote the book I needed to read during that time caring for my mother titled, ‘Wonders In Dementialand’ and now it is a serial podcast. 

Today more than 47.5 million are living with Dementia worldwide. Multiply that number by the family members and caregivers affected by dementia directly, day in and day out and you have a universe of people living in or near Dementialand.

This is my story.