Why a blog about caregiving for my father?

It's a serious question. I mean caregiving is a very personal and world consuming experience. Do I worry about what my father will think if he reads it? Yeah, I do. I don't want him to feel embarrassed or like he's a burden because he's not. My intention is to share my heart about the experience because I have been finding that I'm storing up all of the experiences, good and bad, and it's hurting me. I need a safe place to share and look back. I hope if you are a caregiver that my words help, comfort, or at least help you know you're not crazy. Thanks for being on this journey with me. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Quick update

Image
Dad came back Monday from three weeks in Florida. So far, so good. He shares that he feels lost in time and geography—he needs reminders that he lives with me, where his property is, where he stayed recently, and that we have been to the eastern shore to see his old seminary churches and his college in DC.  He doesn't ask for help with bathroom needs - he has 3 disposable urinals in the basement, so he doesn't have to go upstairs all night to pee, but when he couldn't find one, he found some random gallon jug and used that to pee in.  Including him in the morning walks with the dogs is helpful. It starts the day with activity, which helps him stay busy. He loves to say, " I like to stay busy and active." The only issue is that he said his legs felt numb twice yesterday. I'm thankful his leg ultrasound is soon to get that checked out.  An invaluable tool recommended to me by a friend is helping me to feel less overwhelmed, which is great because I've been d...
Read more

I'm sad and overwhelmed

I was going to share our trip to the Eastern Shore next and include photos because it's chronologically accurate, but I can't today. I just need to get some things off my heart concerning my father's Alzheimer's. I'm sad.  I'm sad for him.  I'm sad for myself.  I'm sad for his friends. I'm sad for my kids.  The past few days he has been really bad for him memory wise. He often thinks he is in Florida. He can't read his handwriting. He wants to be on top of his finances, but can't remember what we covered after 10 minutes. He is getting really anxious, and it presents as "allergies". Yesterday I gave him Sudafed, and then he asked for more allergy medicine, so I gave him a nose spray, and he wanted something else, 20 minutes later, so I gave him his prescription Valium. I encouraged him to wait at least 30 minutes since he just took another "allergy" medicine because he was extremely impatient. 30 min later, he could breath...
Read more