The Caregiver's Journey

by Elizabeth Dell

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.