Been Here Before...

by Erin
(NC)

I've been living with my parents for over a year now, after having lost my home and job of 10 years.

My father has progressively grown worse with his condition (Parkinson's and dementia) so it was convenient that when I moved in, I also fell into the role of caregiver for both, but mostly to help my mom with my dad.

We have since been through many "transitions" between myself and my mother. She has felt trapped, I have felt trapped, and my dad- who generally is always in a good mood- but who makes it worse when he gets silly and laughs while all the time pushing against my mother when she is trying to get him into bed.

I noticed he "acts up" when I'm in the room, so I have waited until he's ready for bed and almost sitting on the bed before I enter the room to assist in swinging his legs into the bed, pulling him up to the pillow and covering him with the bed covers.

He makes me so angry, because he is going to physically hurt my mother- he is so strong, when he doesn't want to do something, he physically resists us,by pushing against us (yet doesn't have the strength other times to get himself up from a chair) and he laughs the whole time he is doing this- if my mother were to fall, she would probably break a bone, because she is so fragile herself.

They are both 87 years old. We will have our regular caregivers coming in next week, but this is ridiculous- I was so angry at him that I told him- he knew what he was doing, and he would just laugh even more. I also commented: "the nursing home is looking better all the time."

Thing is, I don't feel bad for saying that, and I am just angry at him. My mother does everything for him and I help, but he acts like a badly behaved child and will not cooperate!!

Is this common with Parkinson's and/or dementia??

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