Great starts are easy, the goal is to finish well
Our caregiving journey began when Mama was in the early stages of dementia. My dad was still alive at that time, although he had his own struggles with Parkinson’s disease. Our parents lived in a little cottage in the country. Wayne and I, and my sister, Peggy took care of everything required to care for parents whose abilities were diminishing.
While my Dad was still alive, he and my Mama lived in a cute little cottage in the country. Over time, my Dad developed Parkinson’s disease, and Mama was beginning to show increasing signs of dementia. Our family – my sister, husband, and I did as much as we could for them as they needed – without trying to take over and completely run their lives.
Along with cooking and cleaning, one of the biggest struggles they had was with their medication. They increasingly lost the answers to questions such as: When to take which medications, and how much? How often? When and where to get more?
I had the oddest experience one day. I’d popped into a grocery store to pick up a few items. On my list were cheese, milk, and a dozen eggs. Inside the store, I immediately headed over to the ‘dairy products’ section hoping to get my groceries and move on with my day as quickly as possible.
Steering the cart around the aisle to the side of the store where the dairy products were displayed, I suddenly stopped short. Instead of cheese and milk, the cold cases contained lunch meat, hot dogs, and a variety of deli items. What happened? Was I thinking of a different store? It had only been a short time since I had been there and remembered…well…I thought I’d remembered buying cheese from that very spot.
Abilities changed over time as dementia robbed the bits and pieces of Mama’s brain. We had to be strategic, patient and choose our battles. If she didn’t feel like singing, that was okay, but wearing shoes was a requirement.