At some point in most of our lives, a loved one is going to need care. Yet being a caregiver is not something one typically thinks about or one that can be easily prepared for.  It begins with a diagnosis- often a surprise – then leads into the initial shock, acknowledgement then acceptance of an unexpected disease someone you love now has. For my family, it was Parkinson’s Disease.   

Some years ago, I clearly remember being at work and receiving a phone call from my husband who had just been to a neurology appointment.  “I have Parkinson’s Disease” he said into the telephone and “the Doctor says it’s a progressive and debilitating disease. I remember verbalizing back the platitudes – “I’m here with you.”  “We’ll beat this.” “We won’t let it get us down.”    I should have gone with him, I thought.  But who expected this?  When I got off the phone, those two words kept coming back to me – progressive and debilitating.  Boy, that didn’t sound good.  The word “caregiver” di...