Your Brain on Mom

Mom’s move into semi-assisted living in Quebec turned out to be far more complicated than expected. From the impossible caregiving schedule it created for our family to the false promise of a transit bed, this episode dives into the real challenges of caring for a parent with Alzheimer’s.

We share our firsthand experiences navigating the Quebec healthcare system for elder care, the long wait for a geriatric assessment, and the moment when a doctor finally cut through the confusion with a CT scan referral. Along the way, we discuss the struggles of managing dementia at home, the realities of senior care facilities, and the humor and chaos that come with being adult children caregivers.

If you’re juggling caregiving for a parent or loved one with dementia, exploring semi-assisted living, or just trying to survive the rollercoaster of elder care, this episode is packed with insights, stories, and real-life lessons you won’t want to miss.

🎧 Listen now and join us for a candid look at the highs, lows, and funny moments of caring for a parent with Alzheimer’s.

About This is Your Brain on Mom:

This Is Your Brain on Mom is a podcast where sibling co-hosts share the unexpected beginning of their mom’s dementia journey — a story that started with a broken ankle, not memory loss. Candid, emotional, and often funny, it’s a real-life look at caregiving, dementia vs. Alzheimer’s, and the bond that forms when siblings team up to care for a parent.

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We thought we were simply taking Mom out for a celebratory family dinner. Instead, we witnessed the first unmistakable signs that something deeper was happening — anxiety, confusion, whispering, and changes in how she ate. In Episode 3 of This Is Your Brain on Mom, a real-life dementia caregiving podcast, siblings Wendy and Barry share the night they realized their mom’s recovery wasn’t just about a broken ankle.

From early signs of dementia and behavioral changes in Alzheimer’s to navigating the healthcare systemand questioning whether it was a UTI, delirium, or cognitive decline, this episode dives into the uncertainty caregivers face when a loved one begins to change. With a mix of honesty, humor, and sibling banter, we talk about how it feels to care for a parent while holding on to hope — and how grief begins long before a diagnosis.

If you’re supporting a parent  or loved one with Alzheimer’s or dementia, wondering about early warning signs, or looking for real talk about family caregiving, this episode is for you.

🎧 Listen to Episode 3 now and join the conversation.

About This is Your Brain on Mom:

This Is Your Brain on Mom is a podcast where sibling co-hosts share the unexpected beginning of their mom’s dementia journey — a story that started with a broken ankle, not memory loss. Candid, emotional, and often funny, it’s a real-life look at caregiving, dementia vs. Alzheimer’s, and the bond that forms when siblings team up to care for a parent.

Follow us on social media: ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the carefully planned rehab routines to the subtle cognitive changes that didn’t feel like Mom, this chapter of our dementia journey is where everything began to shift. What started as recovery from a broken ankle turned into questions about memory loss, unusual behavior, and the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

In this episode of This Is Your Brain on Mom, we — a brother and sister duo — open up about the moment a doctor’s phone call planted a seed of worry we couldn’t shake. We share how we began piecing together that this was more than just a fall, and how we stepped into our roles as sibling caregivers, navigating the confusion, frustration, and humor that come with caregiving for a parent in cognitive decline.

If you’ve ever wondered about the difference between a simple recovery setback and the early stages of something bigger, or if you’re trying to recognize the first signs of Alzheimer’s disease, this episode will feel both familiar and validating.

About This is Your Brain on Mom:

This Is Your Brain on Mom is a podcast where sibling co-hosts share the unexpected beginning of their mom’s dementia journey — a story that started with a broken ankle, not memory loss. Candid, emotional, and often funny, it’s a real-life look at caregiving, dementia vs. Alzheimer’s, and the bond that forms when siblings team up to care for a parent.

Follow us on social media: Instagram | TikTok

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Is Your Brain on Mom, sibling co-hosts open up about the unexpected beginning of their mother’s dementia journey — a journey that didn’t start with obvious memory loss, but with a broken ankle. What followed were strange behaviors, unexplained shifts, and subtle cognitive changes that signaled something deeper was happening.

As a brother-and-sister caregiver team, we share the real-life dementia story of how we first encountered our mom’s cognitive decline. From unusual reactions in the hospital to confusing days at home, we walk through the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease and how they can appear differently than you might expect. We also discuss the differences between dementia vs. Alzheimer’s and how confusing it is to understand the distinction. 

This podcast highlights the emotional side of becoming sibling caregivers — the frustration, the gut instinct, and the bond that forms when adult children team up to care for a parent. We also share how we use humor as a survival tool, because sometimes the only way through the fear and confusion of the progression of Alzheimer’s disease is to laugh together.

By telling our caregiving story, we hope to normalize the chaos, confusion, and unexpected moments that caregivers face, and to create a space where others feel seen. We explain why we decided to start this podcast — to document the earliest moments of our journey and to give a voice to other sibling caregivers navigating similar paths.

Whether you’re researching dementia vs. Alzheimer’s, searching for early signs of Alzheimer’s disease, curious about sibling caregivers, or looking for real-life dementia stories to relate to, this podcast offers a candid, relatable, and hopeful look at the very beginning of the caregiving journey.

About This is Your Brain on Mom:

This Is Your Brain on Mom is a podcast where sibling co-hosts share the unexpected beginning of their mom’s dementia journey — a story that started with a broken ankle, not memory loss. Candid, emotional, and often funny, it’s a real-life look at caregiving, dementia vs. Alzheimer’s, and the bond that forms when siblings team up to care for a parent.

Follow us on social media: ⁠Instagram⁠ | ⁠TikTok⁠

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Is Your Brain on Mom, sibling co-hosts share the unexpected beginning of their mother’s dementia journey — a journey that didn’t start with obvious memory loss, but with a broken ankle. What followed were strange behaviors, unexplained shifts, and subtle cognitive changes that signaled something deeper was happening.

As a brother and sister caregiver duo, we take listeners behind the scenes of the first moments we began noticing our mom’s cognitive decline. From unusual reactions in the hospital to confusing days at home, we walk through the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease and how they can look different than you might expect. We also touch on the important differences between dementia vs. Alzheimer’s, and how understanding those distinctions can help families navigate care sooner.

This podcast also explores the emotional side of caregiving — the frustration, the dark humor, the “gut feeling” that something is wrong, and the bond that forms when siblings team up to care for a parent. We talk openly about the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, what it looked like in its earliest stage for our family, and why we decided to create this podcast to document the journey.

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