Living With Lewy Body Dementia - Nora Poppins style

12/01/2025

✨ Introducing the 2026 Living with Lewy Caregiver Calendar!
Hope, help, & gentle moments for every season.

Friends, I am so excited to share something I’ve poured my heart into this year — the 2026 Living with Lewy Caregiver Calendar. It’s designed especially for dementia caregivers who are doing the tender, holy, exhausting work of loving someone through memory loss… one day at a time.

Each month features a soft watercolor illustration in that familiar Nora Poppins style — cozy scenes, gentle reminders, little sparks of joy — paired with an encouraging quote for the season you’re in.
I wanted caregivers to have something beautiful to look at… something steady to count on… something that whispers,
“You’re doing better than you think.”
Because you are. ❤️

This calendar is printed through Gelato and available now in my new Etsy shop, Caregiver Joy (my little extension of LivingwithLewy.net).

🗓️ If you or someone you love could use a bit of hope on the wall this coming year, you can peek at it here:
👉 https://caregiverjoy.etsy.com

Thank you for cheering me on, for supporting this mission, and for helping me reach caregivers who need a gentler, kinder place to land.

With gratitude (and a cup of tea),
Deb & Nora Poppins 💛

Shop Gifts that lift the hearts of caregivers by CaregiverJoy located in San Luis Obispo, California.

11/30/2025

Friends… I did a thing. 💛

After years of caregiving, designing, writing, and creating resources to help others on this wild dementia journey, I finally opened an Etsy shop just for caregivers: CaregiverJoy.

It’s my cozy little corner of the internet filled with gentle encouragement, whimsical designs, and the occasional “oh yes, THAT’S my life” caregiver moment.

Mugs, shirts, printables, calendars… all created with tired-but-still-loving hearts in mind.

If you’d like to take a peek (or support a caregiver you love), here’s my special shop link:
👉 https://caregiverjoy.etsy.com
If you shop through this link, Etsy actually sends a little “thank you” my way, which helps me keep creating more caregiver resources. 💛
One of my favorites so far?
This “I Show Up Every Day” Caregiver Superhero Mug.
Because honestly… showing up every single day is a superpower.
(Mine runs mostly on love… and caffeine… but still counts. 🦸‍♀️☕️)

And to help you stay organized in the new year, a 2026 Caregiver Wall Calendar — full of soft watercolor illustrations, seasonal encouragements, and little reminders that caregivers deserve gentle moments too.

Thank you for cheering me on, sharing in this journey, and supporting the heart behind all of this.

Your love and encouragement mean more than you know. 💛

Shop Gifts that lift the hearts of caregivers by CaregiverJoy located in San Luis Obispo, California.

11/27/2025

✨“Me? Thankful?!?!”✨

If you had asked me back on January 3rd — the day we were handed my husband’s Lewy Body Dementia and Capgras Syndrome diagnosis — if I would be thankful at the end of this year… I probably would have looked at you like you had three heads.

Add in losing my sweet dad on May 31st…

And my mom, who’s now on hospice with advanced Alzheimer’s…
And honestly? It’s been a year that felt like getting hit by emotional waves before you’ve even caught your breath from the last one.
It has been hard.

It has been devastating.

It has been grief on repeat.

But here’s the part that surprised me…

Somewhere in the middle of the heartbreak, I watched people rise up.

Family, friends, neighbors, this beautiful community — showing up, caring, praying, checking in, sharing wisdom, bringing laughter, and holding space when the tears came.

And in the cracks of this very hard year, something unexpected kept growing:

Hope.
Purpose.
Creativity.

The kind that whispers, “You’re not the only one walking through this.”

Books, workbooks, planners, coloring pages, activity books… born out of the very real desire to help others survive and navigate this messy, beautiful, complicated thing called life.

So yes — even in one of the hardest years of my life…

I am thankful.

Deeply. Quietly. Honestly thankful.

Thankful for family.

Thankful for friends.

Thankful for community — including you reading this.

Thankful for the strength I didn’t know I had.

Thankful for the people who have shown up in ways big and small.

Thankful that even in the sorrow, there have been blessings tucked into the corners.

If this year has been hard for you too… I see you.

We’re still here.

We’re still standing.

And somehow — we’re still grateful. ❤️

Wishing you and blessed and thanks-filled Thanksgiving

11/26/2025

A Caregiver’s Inside Guide to the Dementia Brain 💜 Perfect For:

11/26/2025

Have you ever looked at your loved one with dementia and thought:

“What on EARTH is going on in their brain right now?”
🙋‍♀️ Because… SAME.

That question (and about 300 more just like it) is what led me to write my newest book:
✨ “Me With Dementia Talking About…” ✨

It’s a simple, compassionate guide that explains dementia from the inside out — as if your loved one is speaking directly to you about what they see, feel, fear, and experience.

No medical jargon.
No guilt.
No overwhelm.
Just clarity, comfort, and those “Ohhh… that makes SO much more sense now” moments caregivers desperately need.

Inside, you’ll find gentle explanations for things like:
💭 Why they repeat questions
💭 Why evenings are so hard
💭 Why they argue even when they don’t mean to
💭 Why they think people are strangers
💭 Why their brain “fills in” missing information
💭 Why logic doesn’t work (I know… it should, but it doesn’t)

If you’ve ever wished you could understand your loved one better…
If you’ve ever felt frustrated and guilty at the same time…
If you’ve ever cried in the car because caregiving feels like too much…

Then this book was written with you in mind. 💛

I hope it brings you clarity.
I hope it brings you comfort.
And I hope it makes the hardest parts of caregiving feel even a little bit easier.

You’re not alone on this journey — not for one single step.
🌸

➡️ You can find “Me With Dementia Talking About…” on Amazon here:

A Caregiver’s Inside Guide to the Dementia Brain 💜 Perfect For:

10/18/2025

I've been working on a project...a big project...no, a HUGE project. It's a book that takes a peek inside the brain of someone with dementia.
- What they think
- what their brain is doing...or not doing
- why they do what they do (yes, "behaviors" are included), and
- what caregivers can do to help

The text is written, I just need to add a cover. Can you help? Here are three cover designs and I would love to know which one "speaks to you" --> Top, Middle or Bottom?

Thanks in advance for your vote!

10/01/2025

Are you having food battles? This may help…

Me” with Dementia Talking About Eating

Well, eating… that’s supposed to be simple, right? Fork to mouth, chew, swallow. But my brain doesn’t always make it feel that way.
Here’s what’s supposed to happen:

First, when I see the food, the sensory neurons in my eyes notice it, and my olfactory neurons in my nose catch the smell. Normally, that wakes up the frontal lobe (the part that helps me plan), and I think, ‘Ah, spaghetti! I love spaghetti.’

Then, motor neurons in my brain and spinal cord should send messages down to my hands and mouth, so I can pick up the fork and take a bite.

Sensory neurons in my mouth tell me if the food is too hot, too cold, or tastes good.

Once the food is in my mouth, cranial nerves (like the trigeminal nerve for chewing and the glossopharyngeal and vagus nerves for swallowing) should work together to make chewing and swallowing smooth.

But here’s the trouble with my dementia:

Sometimes the visual neurons don’t quite connect the dots. I might see the food, but I don’t know what to do with it. It’s like my brain doesn’t send the plan to my hands.

Other times, my motor neurons misfire—I fumble with the fork, or I forget how to chew properly.

And swallowing… that’s a big one. The signals from my brainstem to my throat muscles can get mixed up. Food feels stuck, or I cough because it went the wrong way.

It’s not that the food isn’t good, or that I don’t want to eat—it’s that the messages between my neurons get scrambled, like static on an old radio. The wires are still there, but they spark and short out instead of carrying the signal cleanly.

So when you see me staring at my plate or chewing funny, it’s not that I’m being difficult—it’s just that the neurons that are supposed to help me eat aren’t talking to each other the way they used to.”

09/04/2025

Three months after my daddy died, I thought I’d be further along. But the truth is, I’m still swimming in grief…and paperwork. And let me tell you, paperwork doesn’t care if you’ve had enough tea or tears for one day.

Add dementia caregiving to the mix (my mom has advanced Alzheimer’s and my loved one has Lewy Body Dementia), and it’s a tangled ball of yarn nobody warned me about. That’s exactly why I created The “After” Workbook. I needed a guide that said: “Here’s the next gentle step.” So I wrote one.

If you’re walking through the “after” or preparing for the “before,” you don’t have to do it alone. 💜

Read the full story on the blog ➡️

Three months after my father’s death, I’m still tying up loose ends while caregiving. Here’s what I’ve learned—and why I created The After Workbook.

08/31/2025

💜☕ Why do dementia caregivers get so little help?
Some days it feels like we’re doing Olympic-level caregiving while the world just shrugs and says, “Good luck with that.” Truth is, dementia caregivers are some of the most overworked and under-supported folks around — and it’s about time the world noticed.
In my latest Living with Lewy blog, I talk about why help is so scarce, why caregivers often feel invisible, and what needs to change — from better training for doctors to real respite for families.
✨ Spoiler: YOU are not invisible here. You’re seen. You’re valued. And together, we can be squeaky wheels (with glitter, of course).
👉 Read more here

08/30/2025

Some folks watched the Diane Sawyer interview with Emma Heming Willis, and I’ve been seeing lots of chatter about it. Here’s the thing: unless you’re inside someone’s four walls, living the moment-by-moment reality of dementia caregiving, you really don’t know what it’s like.

My loved one has Lewy Body Dementia (and Capgras Syndrome on top of it) — but there are over 100 types of dementia. The truth is, the target is always moving. Decisions aren’t made lightly — they’re made out of love, necessity, and sometimes sheer survival. And yes, people may offer their opinions from the sidelines (bless their well-intentioned hearts 🫖), but unless they’re here answering the 200th repeated question, redirecting the midnight wanderings, or any of a million other things that can happen in a day, they don’t get to judge.

Truth is, most of us caregivers never signed up for medical school. We’re improvising, learning, stumbling, and figuring it out as we go — while juggling families, jobs, and the hope of a hot cup of tea before it goes cold. ☕️

So to my fellow caregivers: you are doing your best. You’re doing the brave, messy, holy work of loving someone through a disease that doesn’t play fair. And that, my friends, is enough. 💜

08/27/2025

Some days caregiving feels like following behind with a mop and scrub brush—cleaning up the messes dementia leaves in its wake.
This week? Heavy, scary, bone-deep weary.

I don’t have a shiny bow to tie it up with, but maybe that’s the point: honesty is hope. If you’re standing in your own mess today, know this—so am I. And you’re not alone. 💜

Full story here —>

Caregiving with Lewy Body dementia and Capgras can feel overwhelming. Here’s one caregiver’s raw, honest look at chaos, weariness, and hope.

08/13/2025

When the medicine meant to help… doesn’t.
My loved one with Lewy Body dementia just had hip surgery. I warned the doctors (several times!) about anesthesia and meds that can make LBD worse. They nodded, smiled… and still gave him an opioid.
The next 24 hours? Calls from the nurses, an ER visit, and some truly ridiculous “care plan” options from the doctor.

If you care for someone with LBD, you need to know: certain meds can make symptoms spiral—and quickly.
💡 Carry this free LBDA medical emergency card so you can skip the explaining and get straight to protecting your loved one.

👉 Read my story + get the card here:

Lewy Body dementia and medications can be a dangerous mix. Here’s what caregivers need to know to protect their loved ones before, during, and after surgery.