(image geralt @ pixabay.com)
DO IT! The documentation is invaluable. With smartphones and tablets, it should be easier than ever, but how many times do you have a celebration and no one takes any pictures (of people now, not just food!), even those who keep checking their phones the whole time?
Many family caregivers may be doing videos for nice events and holidays, but the idea here is to do it systematically and periodically, focusing on the person alone, maybe every month on some designated day. Just a short 15-20 seconds mid day or at a meal might tell the tale, especially over time.
(public domain video of gentleman walking, Pixabay via Pexels.com)
Physical abilities like balance, posture, motion fluidity, gait and speed all get captured and conveyed in a glance. Behavioral episodes can all get captured. Verbal output is an important aspect of many cognitive staging tools. Changes in cadence, fluency, enunciation, volume and tone all get captured in video.
When encountering a new caregiver, or physician [for us, three of each recently], brief videos can be a short cut in explaining changes before assessing the current status. Recommendation: keep it short and to the point, or just show excerpts, otherwise they quickly become annoying.
Sadly, this might remind some of trying to record a baby’s first steps, or first words, except in reverse. I really dislike the concept of “retrogenesis,” as written up by Dr. B. Reisberg at NYU, but I can see why the concept exists.
Consider the videos a gift for yourself, if you’re the main caregiver, to see the changes and note the adaptations accomplished over time. And you can share brief ones as “holiday gifts,” for family and friends who want to know, via messaging.
I dedicate this post to prescient authors [G. Cryer & N. Ford] of The Last Sweet Days of Issac, a musical I saw via a public school outing in Cincinnati long ago. There’s a funny and poignant scene in which Isaac, who carries a home video camera, and a young woman are trapped together in an elevator.
Issac starts recording, saying something like: in the future, some people will be recorded from birth to death, while others will spend their whole lives doing nothing but just watching them!
Ain’t that today’s Instagram, or what?
