The Caregiver's Journey
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Time passed, however, and as my parents got sicker and became more dependent on caregivers, Dad’s narcissism became increasingly more pronounced. When a caregiver was tending to Mom, Dad would get very jealous and begin calling for help, forcing the caregiver to abruptly stop and run to Dad’s aid. Mom’s needs were frequently delayed and sometimes completely neglected. In fact, Dad’s refusal to share eventually forced us to employ two full-time caregivers twenty-four hours a day! This irrational dependency made Dad vulnerable and susceptible to mistreatment, and John, the caregiver he favored, took full advantage of the situation at every opportunity.
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About the Book
There’s nothing easy about caring for elderly parents. It can be beautiful like a rose, yet also relentlessly painful. For twenty years, author Elizabeth Dell served as the caregiver for her very difficult parents: one, her father who was a raging narcissist, and the other, her mother, who was slowly fading away due to Alzheimer’s disease. As an only child, Dell was trapped trying to protect one from the other and trying to hold onto some semblance of normality in her personal life. In The Caregiver’s Journey, Dell shares her story to help others navigate, understand, and prepare for some of the potential challenges found in elder care, elder abuse, caregiver dynamics, and the difficulty of dealing with a narcissistic parent. She tells about the frustration, laughter, anger, sadness, and confusion that can be part of caring for aging parents and how she survived this role through God’s grace.
About the Author
Elizabeth Dell lives in North Carolina where she and her husband have two adult children. After twenty years of caring for ill parents, she reinvented herself as a public art consultant and most recently as a writer. This memoir is her way of healing from being the lifelong victim of narcissistic abuse.