I am NOT the caregiver type at all!! My Mom had a girl that came in and helped as her Alzheimer's progressed. She heard me on the phone before leaving and she said, I could never do that! You are so impressive, one hell of a businesswoman. I said, no, I am in total awe of what you can do. I had tears in my eyes thinking I can't take care of my Mom. Am I a monster? But as things got worse, I had parents moved to fla. where I was so I could help out. Even in assisted living, it's a big job. Dad had emphysema so it was a lot! In Dad's last stages, he was so fragile, the girl that we brought in to shower Dad was too rough when she washed his hair. he asked if I could help. We did not have that type of relationship. I had never seen my father in his underwear, and he was white collar, country club. I was the black sheep. Those precious moments while showering Dad, we had more laughs, tears and honesty than we had ever had. Sometime beautiful things can happen. I gag when I see a kids diaper getting changed, can't wrap gifts, so I'm not the Mommy type. When you are needed, you become capable of things you never knew possible before......God Bless Everyone

jshdma
Walking away for a few hours could mean finding my husband on the floor with a broken bone, or all of our important papers pulled out of their files while he looked for a notepad, or, the worst, hours of tears because he was sure I was never coming back and he got scared.

I know it's difficult to imagine this situation if you're not experiencing it. We caregivers don't share all that we are going through. It comes at us so fast that we don't have time to think. Responding just becomes second nature. We're all making this up as we go.