Parkinson's Lifestyle Management

Caregiver – My experience

by | May 21, 2024 | Archives, Caregiver | 21 comments

Parkinsons Lifestyle Management

In late January 1997, my mother called me at 7 a.m. on a Thursday morning saying I had to come home as she and my father couldn’t take care of themselves. I lived outside Atlanta then and caught a flight Friday morning to Tampa, then a car to central Florida.  My father was in the hospital, and my mother was home on oxygen.

My father was released on Sat., and I brought him home; he was to go back Tuesday to Lakeland for the diagnosis and prognosis.  My mother had an appointment with her doctor that Friday.  Both were diagnosed with chronic terminal illnesses and would require total care, all in one week.

My educational background is an advanced degree in Exercise Science, so we established a routine to exercise to develop expectations to maintain a quality of life and give them hope for a future. The programs I designed were based on what the doctors provided and then tailored for my parents.  This allowed us as a family to interact at a different level. I became a professional caregiver in a short period.  I don’t even think the word caregiver was a word then.

After my parents, I’ve been working ever since, developing programs for people with chronic illnesses.  I began with a gentleman who had Parkinson’s in 2002 and has been dedicated to working with PD since.

The section on caregiving is about my experiences personally with my parents and what I’ve seen over the past 25 years with Parkinson’s in the home.  My involvement with someone with PD is, on average, 4-5 years, 3-5 days a week.  I’ve witnessed a lot of caregiving during this span of years.

I hope this section is of value.

21 Comments

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