Both my friend and I decided to start this blog in hopes that it might help others out there dealing with the same issues we have dealt with and still are dealing with.
Dealing with aging parents, and the issues that come along with that when you really aren't ready for it, can be and is very overwhelming. The idea of starting a blog, would not only help us express our stress, frustration, and sadness, it might help others as well.
My father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's about 10 years ago and is now in the final stages.  Over the years, my mother hid it from us, and believe it or not also from her husband, my father. She felt that if he knew he would become depressed and also if others found out, he would be looked at differently, and their privacy would be gone. Since he is well known in the community and within his career, this was very important to her. But I felt, he had a right to know when it started taking his mind. This brilliant man, had a right to know what was happening to him, and when he would question his sanity, it broke my heart not to explain, because this would go against my mothers wishes. I believe he had a right to know, to read up on it, to make final decisions about how he wanted his life to go forward, to say I love you to his wife, his kids, his grand kids and great grand kids, before he forgot our faces. This I am very angry with. I asked my mother for years to go get info, to talk to a support group, which she didn't think she needed. Her words were that "no one would understand".  I was again torn between my fathers sadness of not knowing what was happening to him, and my mothers sadness of watching the man she has been married to over 64 years slowly forgetting her and how to forget to do the simplest things.
Word of advice: Do you and your family a favor, read up on everything you can on what is ailing your parent, be prepared for the future. Luckily my parents gave all their doctors authorization to speak to me when my brother and I had questions and needed to know. So call them, ask the questions, better yet, go with them to their appointments. This way you have the info first hand, and the opportunity to be educated on what ever is effecting your parent. Trust me, I found out that things were not being told to me, which were serious.

Between the two of us, my friend and I will hopefully be able to give you someone to relate to, maybe answers some questions, and give you thoughts to think about as you travel your own road. It can be sad, it can be frustrating, and very overwhelming. Please know...you are not alone.

Talk to you soon.