This is so much easier said than done for me. My husband exercises 6 days a week, that’s an hour of scheduled activity for both of us in the middle of every day. He always needs a nap either before or after, another hour and a half gone. By the time we are done with this, our day is pretty much full. We may have an hour or two free but taking an entire day? Not a chance. We have one day when he doesn’t exercise, yet we still never seem to find time to do fun things. Just because we aren’t exercising, we still have regularly scheduled meals and a nap. PD delegates how we spend our time and there isn’t much room for slack.

If we can’t take a day off together, then do I try to take one off by myself? What would that look like? When I was working, I called them stress relief days, not necessarily an option for a CarePartner. I have friends who have chosen to use respite care for a break. That involves longer term, full-time stays apart and I don’t feel that I need that, I just need a day. One day when I could come and go as I pleased. No meals to prepare, no exercise class, no animals to care for, no house or yardwork. A free day without any responsibilities. I’m not sure that I would do much different, but it would be so nice to have the choice.

How can I make this happen? First of all, I need to ask for it. I need to let my husband know that I need some time for myself and then work with him to figure out a plan. Second of all, I need to accept that I can let go, I don’t have to do it all. My husband is still capable of caring for himself as evidenced by the fact that I am gone for a few hours to volunteer every week. If we can make that work, we should be able to shift it to a day when I am free to do personal tasks or even nothing at all. The third step is to find a day when he is feeling good and simply give it a try. A day of uninterrupted nothing, if that is what I choose. Living in the uncertain world of Parkinson’s Disease, I wonder if this is actually possible?