One of the hardest things in life
Mood:  sad

is to put a parent into a nursing home. I had to do that on Monday with my father.

He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease back in 1990. This is a progressive disease, that robs the patient of their muscle control, causes dementia, and other sorts of horrible effects. My father had finally come to the point where my mother could no longer care for him, even with help from CNA's, who we had coming for 4 hours every evening.

This has been the hardest 3 weeks of my life. I had find the nursing home, interview them, fill out the paper work, tell my father that he would be moving there, and then move him in on Monday. So far this week, I've made 7 trips to the home (which is 35 minutes away), but it still doesn't seem like enough. This is my dad. Someone who has loved me no matter what I've done, walked me home from kindergarten where he worked next door, guided me through the horrible teenage years, gave me away at my wedding. I remember him taking a picture of me, sitting outside under the birch trees in our front yard with two pumpkins, when I was 2 (this is one of my earliest memories). My dad has always been there for me, and I want to be there for him. So we'll slowly move into this unknown area, and go from there. I can only hope that he adjusts to living at the nursing home. I'm doing everything I can to make the transition easier for him. I hope that he's enjoying the food I'm bringing him, and I'm going to start crocheting an afghan for him to keep on his bed. I put together a small photo collage, with two pictures of my kids, and pictures of the place he was born and raised in in Nebraska.

As I said, this is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but it's for my dad, and I want him to have the best that we can give.