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Caring for Aging Parents — Getting Help
Until dad’s Lewy Body Dementia took over, I’d take dad to support group meetings every week. The meetings involved guest speakers, exercise, and music therapy for the people with Parkinson’s. While they worked out, the caregivers met for what was a mixture of group therapy and sharing insider secrets. I loved that group even though I always felt out of place. Most of the people in the room where wives, although the occasional husband was there.
They would talk about how they had to sleep in separate beds now because of their husband’s night thrashing. One of the wonderful ladies found it endlessly funny to discuss changes in her husband’s “pecker.” The first time she brought it up, I had to cover my face for a moment. Really, I can’t discuss my dad that way. It was too much. The whole room was laughing as I squirmed in my seat. We did as much laughing in that group as we did crying.
The ladies in this group were truly a lifeline for me. While we were in different roles, they never once made me feel like I was somehow less of a caregiver than they were because I didn’t have to change the bed sheets in the middle of the night. They listened to me and gave me great advice. I love them all for their unique ways of handling what they were facing in helping their husbands. While I took dad to the support group to help him, I got just as much, if not more…
