I have no idea what I'm going to do! After months of poking and prodding and thinking my issues were just hormonal, the doctor confirmed today that I have Lupus. I had suspected this for quite some time, but after having so many doctors tell me that I was imagining things, I chalked my symptoms up to stress.
I've read so many blogs, articles and threads about how the caregiver's health declines, but I never expected to be one of the physically unhealthy caregivers. In fact, I assumed that I was one of the younger caregivers at 40 (and not even a full-time caregiver at that).
So, of course, I have been researching like crazy. Clearly, I'm going to need to change my lifestyle... but HOW?
Change to an organic, less processed diet? OK... can't afford that. Dad doesn't eat that stuff. How am I going to continue hanging out with him without seeming "uppity" because I can't eat the food?
Reduce stress... HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Exercise more.... I repeat HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Thankfully, Dad doesn't understand all of this, and I REALLY don't want anyone to know. If any of the "family" finds out, they will somehow make this my fault or accuse me of seeking sympathy or even making it up. After all, they think I'm doing such a horrible job at this (apparently, I should take care of him 24/7 and "pay myself" instead of working my "fancy" job with my "fancy" education)
So much for reducing stress. I don't know what to do...
Maybe I'm getting old (well, of course I'm heading in that direction!), but I wonder why it seems that every time there's an "update" or "improvement" in electronic technology, it always seems to result in eliminating what works and replacing it was something more cumbersome and less intuitive..
Suggestion 1: Like everyone said... take some ME time. I took two days off from work, used my employee discount from my second job and stayed at a nice hotel for $35. I knew I would end up tending to my "must do" list if I was home, so it was so awesome to just lie in bed, order room service (at a 50% discount) and not worry about cleaning up after!
Suggestion 2: Go to the farmer's market! It was SOOOO much fun! Organic really isn't expensive and I get to support local farmers. Even doing that felt refreshing!
Suggestion 3: Create an exit strategy. I'm going to taper off working the second job and plan to quit altogether by March of next year. This will give me time to "help" Dad transition to using his own money for his expenses and/or move him to a less expensive facility.
Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. It forced me to take a long, hard look at what I've been (more accurately NOT doing) for myself and realize that Dad has lived a full life and I still have lots of life ahead of me. I'm making plans to live it and take better care of me.
You are not crazy or forgetful. When I first encountered this I was perplexed, but figured it out.
Just under the original post, to the right of "Answers 1 to x of x" is a box labeled "Sort by" Sometimes it is set to "Most Recent", while other times it sets to "Most Helpful". The "Most Helpful" posts 1 to 10 of 10. If you select the box and change it to "Most Recent" then you will get ALL responses. This is not really intuitive, especially when one time it shows one way and then next time it switches to the other (as jacobsonbob noted).
As for the login prompting - when I try to post via my phone, I ALWAYS get this login prompt and often lose my post. On my PC I have not had to reenter that password. Unclear why it works this way, but it is annoying. Perhaps I have not entered it on my phone yet.... I prefer to post via PC anyway as the screen is larger and easier to review my comment before posting it (but still manage to make mistakes! FWIW once you post, the top right of your post has an Edit "button" so you can fix your comment without making a new post to note corrections!)