As the primary family caregiver, I will fess up to thinking and possibly even saying this to my siblings. I know when they visit, I have usually taken the opportunity to escape from the day-to-day and ongoing management of mom. It’s freeing to know that someone else is in town to run down an issue with the nurse or could drive over if something needed to be addressed immediately. I couldn’t even begin to count the amount of times I have visited mom on my own. When my siblings visit, I have used it as an opportunity to take a mini-break from caregiving.
However, what I learned on my sisters visit, was that going with my sibling was a way to reconnect with mom and my sibling. Not only did we have a great visit with mom, we had a great visit with each other.
Thank you to Belledelettres who commented that instead of “it’s your turn to visit” we should think instead “let’s go and visit together”. Just maybe, they will visit more often. Wondered.
My wife often comments that her family don’t know where she lives. This is both a measure of both her dementia and how often they visit!
Sorry to hear and understand!