“This is supposed to be the time of my life – the nest is empty; but now Mom needs me.”

It’s funny how life gets in the way. There I was writing this blog every night, then POW! Our son decides he has this great business idea and wants us to help him get started. Well, my husband and I are suckers for creativity and we love start-up businesses, so of course we had to get involved.  Anyway…. that’s another story (which is going very well for our son) but now I want to get back to sharing my journey about caring for my mom.

It’s been a crazy few months since I last blogged. We’ve made some changes which have really benefited Mom… as well as us. As you know, Mom has been struggling with dementia which has made things difficult for my husband and I to deal with. Mainly because Mom would call us at all hours of the day and night not knowing what to do – very confused with night and day as well as hearing and seeing things that weren’t there.

My husband and I struggled with how we could make things easier for Mom. Should we hire a caregiver? What about moving her to an assisted living facility? So over the past few months (in between working with our son on his new venture) we explored our options. I did tons of research and talked with different care giving agencies and assisted living facilities – so much to process!

We finally decided on hiring a caregiver to come in during the day to help Mom out. It has been difficult getting used to having someone in our lives taking over the daily routine that I have been doing for 2 years. Not only that, now I have someone else I have to keep an eye on. It’s weird really, but I have to admit that it has made a world of difference – not only for Mom, but for my husband and me as well.

What I Learned: There’s a time when you just need to accept help from other people.