After care

Caregiving is a purposeful and busy occupation.

While I was Burt’s caregiver, I had focus and pep even when I was worried and tired.

Since Burt passed, just over a year ago, I have felt I was aging.

I am, of course, as time rolls by, but it feels as if I went from energetic to creaky.

There’s the let-down when inertia slows to a halt.

There’s the sense that you are in need of recovery. Caregiving does take a lot out of you, or at least it took a lot out of me. I’m pretty sure this is the common experience.

You have gone through the trauma of your spouse being ill.

You had the trauma of losing your spouse to dementia.

Now, you’re carrying the scars of his or her death.

That loss puts you into the trauma of a post traumatic time.

Grief and memories age you, they have clearly aged me.