Reply to Did your feelings about your elderly parents change?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Here is the reality:  Life is going on for you as usual,  but suddenly theirs is altered and the unpleasant reality of the situation invades their lives. They aren't gone, but it is clear life will never be the same.  Life as they knew it is over, and one of them no longer has their life partner, the one person they had,  in the way that they did, or their that their spouse is gone. Their friends are sick and many are dying...as if that is normal. It is very scary. Very, very scary. They are starting to visibly decline before their own eyes, and every Dr visit means more intervention or a possible dreaded diagnosis. No one wants to hear about their health concerns at the dinner table. Their fear is no different than yours if you realized presently that you and your spouse will now start the process of dying separately, and so will all of your friends, but that is OK, because it is normal and expected.

The kids come in and start making decisions for them: they suggest moving, nurses, etc. The parent's job was to give you advice, not the other way around. If the kids are taking over, it means it is real,  and this is the end. Their fear is projected on to their kids in tangible and intangible ways. It's all about the fear of loss of any control over their own lives, and just plain  fear in general. They begin the claw-hold to anything and everything they can, because if they don't, the plummet into the unknown will only hasten.

It is a frightening time of life, and it is isolating and relentless- with new developments happening daily or weekly.  Understand the reason,  and do your best to be their source of support when they need it. You will have surprisingly little control over anything for them if they do not agree, anyway. That is a sad fact..people are always surprised that they cannot just dictate a service or take the car keys away. You cannot! When they are gone, and you are out of that relentless fog of anger and resentment, and no one is saying that you did not deserve to feel that way,  you will realize all this as you sort through decades of papers, pictures,  and artifacts of their lives, and it will be too late to tell them what you understand now. It will too late to give them a hug to help soften the end. That's all they want. [/quote]
Thank you, PP—very well put. I'm saving this to refer back to often as I'm now on this journey with my parents.[/quote]

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