A Good Enough Daughter
As a professional in the field of aging, Sara had seen it all—until her own mother broke her hip at the age of 88 and became profoundly confused, unable to live in her own home. Join Sara on her journey through the strangeness that is dementia while trying to make sense of it all and finding humor in the details. [Editor's note: Sara no longer contributes to Silver Planet, but we have made her archived blog entries available as a service to our readers.]
The Last Blog Entry
It's time
Mom is doing just fine. As a matter of fact, her diabetes is so stable that the glucose checks are down to once a week for another few weeks; thereafter, they’ll be done every two weeks. The woman is going to live forever, or so it seems.
I’ve decided to stop writing A Good Enough Daughter. The team at Silver Planet has been great to work with. Reason for stopping: it’s time.
Witnessing the rapid decline of a parent is difficult at best. In some cases, it can be flat-out grueling. Adding caregiving duties on top of that can really put one “over the top”—of sanity, that is. I guess that was my case. Writing the blog helped me find the humor in the situation and establish my own emotional limits by gaining a reasonable perspective. Confirmed: All I need to be is good enough, and that’s what I am.
For the rest of my life I will remain appreciative of those who wrote to me. I gained so much. I sincerely hope that I was as helpful to others as they were to me.
My airport architect husband has been out of work for the past 14 months. He just got a job and is moving to Doha (capital of Qatar in the infamous Persian Gulf) for a 33-month assignment. My younger son is trying to figure out how to finish out his last year of high school in Doha. My older son is going to university in Germany.
So, for now, it’s just Mom and me . . . and I’m fine with that.
By Sara Myers
A Good Enough Daughter Blog
[Editor's note: Sara is irreplaceable, but we've added writer Carol Bursack to our team in her stead. Carol is the author of Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories, a support book on caregiving, and she runs MindingOurElders.com, a Web site supporting caregivers. Please give her a read! Here's a sample: Assisted Living Center Fee Comes as Surprise.]
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