Living Apart

My parents live 500 miles away and I am there power of attorney for health care. My only other sibling is my brother who lives in the same city as they do but he has to work a 40 hour work week. I am on disability for Lupus. It is so hard to get phone calls almost every day form the nurses telling me about my parents. Each time the phone rings I get so scared. Last week my Mom had to go to the psychiatric hospital 2 1/2 hours away for an evaluation due to her behavior. She spent 3 days there. Today my Dad is going to the ER as I am typing this because he is so "out of it". He is grabbing at things that aren't there and incoherent. I am so scared because my car won't make the trip up there. If I had to make it up there, I don't know how!!! I couldn't transfer money from my Dad's account to mine but it would not go in immediately. I don't belong to a church anymore. We can't find a good bible believing church here where I live. There talk the talk, but don't walk the walk, especially for their members. Once they hear of someone in need they think they are a "problem" and they turn their backs. That's what happened at our last church. please pray that my Dad will make it through this. I love him so much. He is my hero. He is 86. Mom is 83. My husband is also under a lot of stress and losing his eye sight due to a car accident. I am so scared about what each day will bring, I am so depressed. I can't afford counseling.

I can't be the only one in this situation. I've had to leave "my life" i.e. husband, home (WI), job, friends, pets etc to care for my senior parents in FL. This has caused a tremendous stress on my relationship with my husband and my finances. I would like to open a conversation with others who are in a similar situation or have experienced this. I hope this conversation helps any caregiver out there.