Oh gosh yes, @lilymarie! Years ago, when I was caregiver to my dad, I got a day off and took a granddaughter to learn how to ice skate. LSS, I fell and broke my arm. In the Ortho clinic I had a wonderful young doc, who wanted to do a very involved surgery, including an external appliance (residents practicing and all that). I could just see my demented dad using whatever it was as something to pull himself up on, and I declined. So he reluctantly set it, as per normal. It's fine. He and I got to be good pals, and spent time grabbing when no one was looking. One day, he said to me "guess what?" It seems he had just read an article stating that the most stressful job in the world, which had been air traffic controllers for as long as we could remember, had been displaced by caregivers, especially dementia caregivers. It's hard work, and it's stressful and it eats you alive. But there are also tremendous gifts inherent in every situation, and in caregiving especially. After my dad passed (on that spectrum, he was one of the easy ones) I was having to retire, and I just wasn't ready. So, I became a volunteer eldercaregiver, as I always enjoy being in service. I just retired after almost 20 years. I gained so much from 'my people', every one of them. It's never easy, but when you realize this is the hardest job, yet you do not shirk from it, and the gift exchange between patient and caregiver is priceless, it makes it a little easier. And when others understand and appreciate you, that's the icing on the cake. I appreciate you, for what you are doing. Blessings on you. Peace and Every Good