This guest post from Werner Rogers
I’ve been working on a plan to take over my parents’ care and it’s been tough. When your family is spread all over the country it’s really hard to get everyone on the same page – who would have thought with my parents both in their 60s we’d be facing this? My mom broke her hip last year and she’s gotten far more immobile since then and dad has had Alzheimer’s since about 8 years ago. So, my sisters and I have been splitting up the responsibilities between the three of us and since I’m not that good when it comes to bedside manner I’ve been handling the logistics.
I went to www.ElectricCompaniesTexas.net to try and cut their exorbitant utility bills. I also talked to their doctor about setting up a monthly checkup schedule (thankfully they live in a small enough town where the doctor will make house calls.) I hired a housekeeper to come in once a week and make sure the place stays clean and on top of all that I’ve had all their mail forwarded to my house so I can check for bills and tax payments and things like that. At the end of the day it’s been really good for them – now that they have less responsibility I think they feel a lot lighter – and my sisters have been doing an excellent job of visiting them often.
Mom and dad are the light of our lives but it’s been hard watching their health and subsequent mental capacity go downhill so quickly and you know, I wouldn’t have told you a year ago the three of us girls were strong enough to deal with it. Now that I know we are I would say our family is one of the strongest families I know and there’s really no reason why anyone shouldn’t believe it! My sisters and myself make a pretty good team.
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