Living with Dementia Parent

When my husband Romie and I decided to be his mother’s caregivers — she would live with us and we’d take care of her every need — we never realized how much it would change our lives … lots of ups and downs. And patience. To watch someone you love slowly lose grasp of the little things the rest of us find so simple to do, like feeding yourself, is not easy and almost heart-breaking. Her name is Pacita, but she’s known as Lola to her many grandchildren and their children. This is Lola’s diary…

Because of Romie’s other full-time job, we get to travel often as a family; we visit his relatives in Manila, Philippines almost every single year. It’s more than just a visit, it’s a chance for family back home to spend as much time as they can with Lola and help make her time as memorable and comfortable as possible. However, sometimes her dementia makes it difficult for her to remember a lot of things she used to know by heart, faces are not quickly identified. The one face she always ask for is Romie’s.