03-17-2003, 08:45 AM
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Cathlete
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Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 562
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A positive side of Alzheimers Disease
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My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimers Disease roughly 8 years ago. I have been her primary caregiver as my brother lives in another city. About four years ago, she moved in with me and my partner. I had never been overweight before, but gained a substantial amount of weight the first year. I am 5'4" and was beginning to bulge out of size 14! Because of my mother's disease, I was pretty much housebound. I had a schedule and routine everyday. Working full-time and taking her back and forth to daycare five days a week, left little time for me personally. She could never be left alone and I couldn't call in am aide service everyime I wanted to go somewhere. I became depressed and thoroughly disgusted with myself and that's when I ordered the original taebo series from the infomercial. It took me a while to get through the basic video. I kept at it and eventually got the Total Gym. With the resistance and taebo, I quickly got down to a size 10. Hungry for more variety and not having a clue where to start, I went on the internet and typed in "fitness videos." I discovered video fitness and collage On video fitness, everone was talking cathe, cathe, cathe. I had to see what she was about. I went to her site and ordered Cardio Kicks. I was immediately hooked. That was the most challenging kickbox routine I had ever done! I wanted more! I ordered the Pure Strength series and CTK Kickbox. Incredible workouts. I have to say that discovering cathe was by far the most satisfying aspect about working out at home. It can get pretty lonely working out by yourself. However, Cathe's personality, sense of humor and motivation is what keeps me going and wanting more. My partner has been very supportive of my "video obsession". She built me a huge cabinet for TV. VCR and DVD player. (I only bought the DVD player because of Cathe's workouts). She helped me arrange an area in the basement for working out and has bought me a barbell, free weights and a punching bag. I am now wearing a size 6 to 8 and have some great muscle development. Did I mention I'm pushing fifty! I've never felt better. I just placed my mother in a nursing home three weeks ago and am now in the stage where my day to day caregiving is over. I'm still having a hard time with it (most caregivers experience guilt and an overwhelming loss during this stage.), but I continue to workout 6 days per week which relieves alot of my tension.
Thank you Cathe. Because of you, I found a positive side of Alzheimer's Disease. May God bless you, keep you strong and keep you around for a long time to come.
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